Two Football Stories

Ad Age broke the news this week that there are only a few ad spots left for the Super Bowl.

I go through all the trouble of registering with Ad Age just so I can read an article and what do I get? Nothing. Just an abstract. I have to shell out $100 if I want to read the whole story. Admittedly it could be worth it, it's a magazine that seems to break a lot of ad news.

Apparently they didn't get the news that charging for your site is not something people do any more.

I originally read about the article somewhere in my Netvibes universe.

I'm not sure which blog told me about this, but Strategic Public Relations, a marketing blog had a variation on the news I originally read:

The game’s on Feb 3rd and a 30-second spot can go for as much as $2.7 million apiece. 90 percent of these spots are already sold?!

Yup, according to Ad Age (don't bother trying to register):

Months before the first dip of a halftime-show buffalo wing, ad time on the Super Bowl is nearly sold out, according to people familiar with the situation. One media buyer estimated News Corp.'s Fox has "less than 10, but more than five" 30-second spots left to sell. A person familiar with the situation said Fox has sold more than 90% of its ad time for the game.

Whoever I originally read also pointed out that last years Super Bowl attracted 92.8 million viewers. In a time of audience migration to the web and odd phenomenons like American Idol, the Super Bowl is still able to outshine them all. It might be the last true television event. When we all go to the web or our mobile phones for our t.v. we'll still want to go to a Super Bowl party. And that is good news for whoever gets the broadcast rights to the Super Bowl.

Speaking of audience dispersion, this was on Silicon Alley Insider.

Verizon, NFL Partnered

The NFL will be offering live video streams to people with Verizon internet and television. That's only 1.5 million people, but it is a step in the right direction.

Video over the web is all the rage. I watched PGA events over the internet this summer at my work. How is it possible that the NFL is behind golf in technological progress? If I was the NFL, I'd be making quality streams of games available over the web so that slackers at their jobs would watch. Plus, according to Mr. Adam Penenberg companies want video because it keeps people at the website longer, which makes it easier to sell advertisements, which means they can finance the streaming through ads. Since the cable companies seem reticent to air the NFL network, the risk of cannibalization is nearly zero.

If I'm sitting around watching last Sunday's game on a Friday at work, I'm that much more excited for the weekend. They could avoid bandwidth issues by restricting the game views on the site by locality, the way they block out home games on local television.

NFL! Are you reading? This is solid, off the cuff advice.

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