Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Audience Metrics & Advertising Blog 2, Question 1 (Feb. 6th)
How would you assess this year’s Super Bowl – from the commercials to
the halftime show to the game itself? In this changing media environment, is
the Super Bowl as influential as a showcase for advertisers, performers, and
the NFL as it was in the past? Limit: 12 responses
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LAUREN TUCKMAN
ReplyDeleteIn assessing this year’s Super Bowl, from the commercials to the halftime show to the game itself there are many interesting factors. In this changing media environment the Super Bowl is as influential, if not more so, as the showcase for advertisers, performers, and the NFL as it was in the past.
According to Tim Calkins, marketing professor at Northwestern University, “A lot of the trends that we’ve seen in the media world over the past decade have only made the Super Bowl more important” (CNNMoney). Some viewers watch the Super Bowl solely for the commercials. Calkins added that in today’s tech world, Super Bowl ads can last two weeks. Many advertisers are putting trailers on YouTube, previewing their advertisements; by doing this they generate a “buzz” and get viewers interested in watching the entire advertisement (CNNMoney).
Dan Lovinger, executive VP for advertising for NBC Sports, stated that they will earn five million dollars, the same as last year. Their revenue, which includes pre and post game events, is the same as the Today Show’s earnings for a year. A 30-second ad will cost more than 5 million dollars. Even though fewer people are watching television, which has lower ratings, last year the Super Bowl still had 111.3 million viewers. For live television with high ratings there are few other opportunities to advertise. The Super Bowl had more than three times the audience as the Oscars in 2017 (Rucker). “Many people watch the Super Bowl primarily to see and discuss the advertising” (Rucker). The advertisements are high budget and use a lot of stars that people like to watch, and they are shared on social media so that they have a wider reach towards consumers.
Contrary to Catkins belief, Yanhui Zhao, at the University of Nebraska, thinks that marketers want to make their ads more interactive so that viewers will share it on social media and this could become a trend. So far this year the number of people that watch NFL games is down 5%, and some advertisers don’t want to spend 5 million dollars on an advertisement. In addition, because the Olympics are starting soon after the Super Bowl, some advertisers may wait to advertise during the Olympics.
However, advertisers have to be careful because there can be a lot of controversy. Additional challenges include baseball players kneeling during the national anthem, which was started by Colin Kaepernick (Rucker). In fact, Donald Trump says they should be fired for kneeling. The kneeling could cause problems in 2018. One problem could be possible protests, which would get more press then the game itself, and therefore advertisers may not want to do it. People will talk more about the protest then the advertisements. Additionally, news about possible brain damage is a large concern. Because of the brain damage, fewer highschoolers are playing football and are therefore are less interested in the Super Bowl. They must weigh the pros and cons of spending that huge amount of money.
When all is said and done, although there are many challenges for Super Bowl LII, advertisers can still reach huge numbers of consumers before, during, and after the game. Actually, the use of social media could expand the number of viewers of their advertisements. The future will show that advertisers will continue to use the Super Bowl as a major advertising mechanism.
It's simple. The NFL's marquee event is TV's biggest game in town. “Why Super Bowl Ads Still Matter.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 1 Feb. 2018, 6:48, money.cnn.com/2018/02/01/news/companies/super-bowl-commercials/index.html.
“NBC Says Super Bowl Commercials Are Nearly Sold out, Topping $5 Million per 30-Second Spot.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-nbc-super-bowl-ad-sales-20180111-story.html?utm_source=Sailthru.
Rucker, Derek. “Why Super Bowl Advertisers Face Challenges In 2018.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Jan. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/derekrucker/2018/01/10/why-super-bowl-advertisers-face-challenges-in-2018/#1bd959877f9d
After watching the Super Bowl this year, I would say that there was not really any commercials that stood out to me as much or were “iconic.” I feel as though the commercials this year we're not as strong as previous years. This could mainly be due to the fact that the Super Bowl ratings have gone down thus getting a Super Bowl ad is not as valuable anymore. The prices for a 30 second ad is roughly $5 million, but with digital advertisements and PR, it goes up to about $10 million. On top of that, the viewership is down more than 5% this year (Rucker and Calkins 2018.) During the halftime show, Justin Timberlake performed. I would say that he had a really good performance, although, it did not have that “iconic” factor that most performances had in previous years. Personally, there was nothing really memorable about this Super Bowl overall.
ReplyDeleteIn the AdWeek article written by the AdWeek Staff, they mention how as of December 10, 2017, there was still roughly 10 spots left for commercials during the Super Bowl. It seems as the demand for ads now were not so popular this year. All of this could be a result to the high price of the ads or simply people are not interested with football anymore. Personally, I used to watch the Super Bowls for the ads, but I have noticed that they aren’t as amusing as they were before.
Justin Timberlake is an iconic star, but I feel as though he was not relevant enough to perform for this year's Super Bowl. I’m not saying that he is not a relevant star, I’m just saying that maybe if there was another artist who was in the limelight this year, they would get higher ratings. As a media person, I never really cared for football, I would watch the Super Bowl for the halftime show.
Going back to the question of if the Super Bowl is still as influential to advertisers and performers as it was in the past, I would say that it is not as influential, but it still matters. According to CNN, Jill Disis says, "There's a symbolic nature of Super Bowl advertising that just isn't the same as other platforms," Calkins said. "A Super Bowl ad used to be a Super Bowl ad, but over the past decade, it's really become a two-week extravaganza." (Disis 2018.)
Rucker, Derek. Calkins, Tim. “Why Super Bowl Advertisers Face Challenges In 2018.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 January, 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/derekrucker/2018/01/10/why-super-bowl-advertisers-face-challenges-in-2018/#1bd959877f9d
AdWeek Staff. “Super Bowl LII Ad Tracker: All About the Big Game’s 2018 Commercials.” AdWeek, 10 December, 2017, http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/super-bowl-lii-ad-tracker-all-about-the-big-games-2018-commercials/
Disis, Jill. “ Why Super Bowl ads still matter.” CNN, 4 February, 2018, http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/01/news/companies/super-bowl-commercials/index.html
There is always so much hype surrounding Super Bowl commercials. The anticipated buildups of these commercials definitely entice people to watch. Individuals who don’t even like football will still watch solely for the fact that commercials are involved. However this years Super Bowl commercials were total let downs. No standouts. Commercials were going for as much as five million dollars for a 30-second ad and an expected $500 million in ad revenue. So when nothing really delivers on the humor or emotional front, there’s something wrong (Battaglio 2018).
ReplyDeletePreviews of commercials set to air during the Super Bowl are weirdly now a thing. Like Chris Pratt in Michelob Ultra’s “Perfect Fit” commercial, Amazon’s “Alexa Loses Her Voice” commercial and Danny Devito in M&M’s “Human” Commercial (LeDonne 2018). This could be considered to be one of two things, media’s new way of letting people watch Super Bowl commercials without actually having to watch the Super Bowl or its a form of advertising to lure people to re-watch the commercial again during the game
The industry was doing everything in its power to get people to watch their commercials, because that would ultimately lead to more people watching the game and higher ratings for the NFL. This season without a doubt has seen a huge decline in ratings due to players kneeling during the National Anthem. Individuals and die-hard fans were burning their jerseys, cutting up their season tickets and boycotting the game on the TV and the decline in ratings was certainly felt throughout the National Football League and according to ESPN, rating were down 9.7 percent during the 2017 regular season (Rovell 2018).
Last year’s Super Bowl commercials had an ongoing theme of politics, like 84 Lumber’s ad about a young Mexican girl and her mom trying to cross the boarder illegally. There was noticeably a lot backlash due to the fact that people just wanted to watch the game and to keep the political agenda out of it. That outrage was noted for this year’s Super Bowl because besides one or two ads, I didn’t really see anything politically noteworthy. Instead there were more commercials focused on “humor” and nostalgia, this is because people are tired of the constant political mentions and just want to be entertained like they’ve been with past Super Bowl Commercials (Rucker, Calkins 2018).
ReplyDeleteLike the commercials, the halftime show has its fair share of publicity. There was a lot of talk about what’s to be expected of Justin Timberlake’s performance, like who he was going to bring out, *NSYNC, Britney? But there was nothing. There was no big surprise, besides the Prince tribute, which Prince himself eerily didn’t want. The half time show was underwhelming so say the least.
Media is constantly developing and I believe that although the Super Bowl was once an influential platform for both commercials and halftime shows, it’s lost its magic. Ads are expensive and the excitement is wearying. People are still passionate for the Super Bowl and everything that’s involved with it, but with social media, the Internet and TV, people don’t have to wait till the Super Bowl to see a funny commercial. In the past, the halftime show was a chance to see a cool performance from a famous singer that they couldn’t of seen otherwise, now you can just YouTube them and see one of their entire concerts. Times have changed and the idea that the Super Bowl still has a huge influential factor is false.
LeDonne, Rob. “The Best Leaked Super Bowl 2018 Ads.” Rolling Stone, 2 Feb. 2018, www.rollingstone.com/culture/pictures/super-bowl-2018-commercials-preview-best-leaked-ads-w516243.
Battaglio, Stephen. “NBC says Super Bowl commercials are nearly sold out, topping $5 million per 30-Second spot.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2018,
Rovell, Darren. “NFL television ratings down 9.7 percent during 2017 regular season.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 4 Jan. 2018, www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21960086/nfl-television-ratings-97-percent-2017-regular-season.
Rucker, Derek. “Why Super Bowl Advertisers Face Challenges In 2018.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Jan. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/derekrucker/2018/01/10/why-super-bowl-advertisers-face-challenges-in-2018/#1bd959877f9d.
Super Bowl 52 was by all accounts an excellent game of Football and television event in general; with near-perfect play by both division champions, an easy-to-get-behind underdog narrative, and an exciting finish, this year’s Super Bowl made for a captivating 4-hours.
ReplyDeleteThe Halftime Show, however, was disappointing. Justin Timberlake scarcely actually sang any of the lyrics to his songs, opting instead to use the microphone as a dancing baton and have an at least partially planted audience fill in the missing words. Furthermore, Timberlake’s cover of Prince’s I Would Die 4 U was both underwhelming and in poor taste. One may wonder why the National Football League would employ such a gimmick, and why they rebooked a halftime performer who ignited so much scandal just a few short years ago.
In terms of the commercials, Super Bowl 52 was certainly more entertaining than Super Bowl 51. Contemporary American politics have influenced advertising in such a way that many brands, while they avoid directly discussing politics, have spearheaded ad campaigns that revolve around accepting of the difference of others. While these ads certainly reflected a positive social message, they missed the mark in some instances such as in the T-Mobile ad that used the imagery of a Last-Supper-like, super long table full of ethnically diverse babies to try and sell cellphone service.
The Super Bowl is somewhat of a valuable pulpit for television advertisers, for now. Ad prices have continually risen for about 10 years and as a matter of fact, they were up $500 thousand from last year at a whopping $5 million for a 30-second spot (Watters). That said, it is entirely possible, if not likely that the current price of televised Super Bowl ads has become what those in the finance industry refer to as a “bubble”, poised to pop and drop in price substantially.
If (when) that bubble finally pops, it will be the result of cord-cutting and the industry disruption that the third screen has proven itself to be. There is a direct correlation between the drop in television viewership and the rise in those opting for online streaming services, studies have shown that media viewership has remained somewhat the same since the advent of SVOD, it is only the medium that has changed (Fulgioni).
This change is crippling small-time television networks, but is proving opportunistic for telecom providers who already possess the infrastructure to focus on SVOD and cross-platform advertising. Dish got out in front of the competition by quickly aligning their skinny-bundling service Sling TV with their standard satellite television to allow cross platform advertising (ComScore). This service will provide advertisers with the ability to monitor their ad’s effectiveness across multiple platforms and will undoubtedly prove an attractive offer to brands that are tired of missing out on precious analytical information.
Works Cited
Watters, Lauren. “The History of Super Bowl Commercial Costs.” AMA, American Marketing Association, 27 Jan. 2017, www.ama.org/publications/marketingnews/pages/history-of-super-bowl-commercial-costs.aspx.
Fulgioni, Gian. “Parallel Universes: Measuring Eyeballs Across Platforms, Screens and Devices.” Cablefax, 8 June 2017, www.bing.com/cr?IG=71B4E71A1AEA4BCF95050B3679842C76&CID=25A616F3AD676029111E1D7DACC8618E&rd=1&h=2hqHHRAMsZGa11LVdGihIQt8bTgL4q_8BcAT3zPPogw&v=1&r=https%3a%2f%2fwww.aaaa.org%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2017%2f07%2fcomScore-Parallel-Universes-Measuring-Eyeballs-Across-Platforms-Screens-and-Devices-2017-06-08.pdf&p=DevEx,5065.1.
“Sling TV Partners with ComScore to Offer First Ever Cross-Platform Addressable Advertising Measurement.” ComScore, Inc., 4 Jan. 2018, www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2018/1/Sling-TV-Partners-with-comScore-to-Offer-First-Ever-Cross-Platform-Addressable-Advertising-Measurement.
Though I have never been one to invest in televised sports, I have always watched the super bowl because of its social obligation. Almost everyone who is in touch with celebrity culture, sports, and world events gathered Sunday evening to watch their favorite players make a mark on history. Going into the super bowl I knew that the main attraction for me was the commercials. In the past years, the super bowl commercials have always been largely talked about and some people (upward of 75%) actually look forward more to seeing these commercials than the actual game. There is a lot of aspects that make a commercial influential and the ‘perfect super bowl commercial’ “Viewers have come to expect Super Bowl TV commercials to be new and different. There’s an undeniable ‘Wow’ factor that must be met, or viewers will be disappointed, or even worse, disinterested (Brooks) I felt that this year, these characteristics failed to be met. No particular commercial stood out to me and had a huge affect on me. From last years super bowl there was one commercial that ultimately left me with the greatest impact and delivered the purpose of the ad. The Budweiser dog commercial was one of the most popular commercials to have ever be played during the super bowl. This commercial was greatly affective because of its sentimental value. There were funny commercials that aired, but no commercial that had a heart warming sentimental value.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the half time show goes, I think that Justin Timberlake had huge shoes to fill. Comparing to lady gaga who is a pop icon, Justin Timberlake’s relevance is significantly lower than hers now a days. That being said, Justin did have a strong performance but towards the beginning while he was playing his new music, I felt like he lost the audience. Most of his relevant songs are from the early 2000’s and not many people listen to his new music. There was a lot of attention and controversy towards his performance because of the rumors about presenting a hologram of Prince. I think that this controversy probably encouraged people to tune in more than they would have without it. Timberlake had an originate plan to use a hologram of prince. “ There was strenuous pushback from prince’s friends and loved ones- including his longtime music collaborator Sheila E. who pointed out that Prince has serious issues with that increasingly popular technology.” (Robinson)
I believe that the Super Bowl is just as influential as it has been in the past years because of the development and importance of advertisements. ‘ The cost of a super bowl ad is roughly $5 million for a thirty-second spot. Advertisers have to create a break-through piece of creative and then support the effort with an integrated marketing campaign: PR, digital, promotions, contests (Rucker, Calkins). Companies are still paying just as much if not more as the past to promote their products. This year, the 2018 super bowl presented companies with a new challenge. This challenge being the protests. For example, kneeling during the national anthem. This protest will take away the focus from the game, and the advertisers or the audience could think that the advertisers are supporting a league that allows protesting( Rucker, Calkins). Just based on how critical every aspect of the game is, it is obvious that all the aspects of the Super Bowl are as influential as they have been in the past.
Robinson, Joanna. “Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl Halftime Show Included a Subtle Nod to Janet Jackson.” Vanities, Vanity Fair, 5 Feb. 2018, www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/02/video-justin-timberlake-halftime-super-bowl-janet-jackson-homage-prince?mbid=social_twitter.
Brooks, Rebecca. “What Makes the Best Super Bowl Ads?” AMA, www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/what-makes-best-super-bowl-ads.aspx.
Rucker, Derek. “Why Super Bowl Advertisers Face Challenges In 2018.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Jan. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/derekrucker/2018/01/10/why-super-bowl-advertisers-face-challenges-in-2018/.
I am not someone who is a die-hard sports fan, but as a Massachusetts native, it is my duty to defend the Patriots to the very end. Needless to say, watching the game in a room of people who were rooting for the Eagles only because of their hate for the Patriots, things got pretty interesting. The Super Bowl itself was a great game and kept everyone on his or her toes, which stresses me out but makes for an entertaining game.
ReplyDeleteOf course, my favorite part of the Super Bowl is the ads and the halftime show. This year my favorite and most popular ad was “Alexa Loses Her Voice”. The commercial was lighthearted and full of celebrities; plus, Cardi B is hilarious, whether we like to admit it or not. The ad was also “named most entertaining and best overall among marketing pros surveyed by Morning Consult for Ad Age's first Super Bowl ranking—measuring not just entertainment value but brand effectiveness” (Ives).
There was major controversy over Dodge’s commercial which featured a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many people were outraged about a truck company using his speech as a way to sell their own products. Dodge no doubt had good intentions but it did not show in this commercial and only ended up hurting the brand. The King Center, which is a memorial nonprofit in memorial of MLK, stated on Twitter that neither the organization nor King’s daughter supported the ad nor gave permission for his speech to be used during it. Though it was later stated that Dodge did in fact get permission from the King estate to use his speech during the commercial (Hibberd).
The halftime show is another main reason as to why I watch the Super Bowl, but I was extremely disappointed this year. Timberlake’s dedication to Prince ended up causing fury among many due to a statement Prince once made about using technology to perform with someone who is deceased “That’s the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age…that’ll never happen to me. To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control” (Schnurr). The entire performance I was waiting for NSYNC to have a short reunion or for Madonna to come out on the stage, which never happened. In my opinion Timberlake’s VMA performance in 2013 was more iconic than his halftime show.
I think the Super Bowl is still influential for advertisers, performers, and NF. There were a ton of great commercials that were well thought out and caught the consumers’ attention. The halftime show this year was a fluke but there were still people who enjoyed it, but after Lady Gaga made her entrance last year by jumping off a roof, expectations were extremely high and Timberlake unfortunately didn’t meet them. As for the NFL, it will always be popular. Super Bowl Sunday is a tradition in many households and I have no doubt that it will continue with its popularity.
Works Cited
Hibberd, J. (n.d.). Super Bowl pickup truck ad outrages viewers by using MLK speech. Retrieved February 05, 2018, from http://ew.com/tv/2018/02/04/ram-mlk-super-bowl-ad/?utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social
Ives., N. (2018, February 05). Amazon, Tide Top Ad Age's New Super Bowl Ad Rankings With Morning Consult. Retrieved February 05, 2018, from http://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/alexa-tide-win-super-bowl-ad-rating-morning-consult/312180/
Schnurr, S. (2018, February 04). Prince's Appearance in Justin Timberlake's Show Sparks Backlash. Retrieved February 05, 2018, from http://www.eonline.com/news/911565/prince-s-appearance-in-justin-timberlake-s-2018-super-bowl-halftime-show-sparks-backlash
In my opinion this year’s Super Bowl was set up to be pretty interesting. Although many were tired of the Patriots making it to the Super Bowl… again… Many were excited about the underdog Eagles making it this year. The majority of football fans were predicting that the patriots were going to win their third Super Bowl in four years, so the results of the event were a huge upset.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the exciting end result of the game, which pains me since I’m a Patriots fan, I think that this Super Bowl fell flat. I think that many of the commercials were over politicized. For example, Dodge is receiving a lot of backlash for their use of Dr. Martin Luther King in their commercial. An example of the criticism is a tweet from Alana Starkey, “MLK is a legend a profit a Hero using his speech from fifty years ago to sell Dodge Trucks is inappropriate” (Hibberd).
Another point of controversy was Justin Timberlake’s halftime show. Timberlake wanted to pay tribute to Prince which ended up causing buzz, “There had been a rumor earlier in the week that Timberlake planned to use a hologram of Prince… There was strenuous pushback from Prince’s friends and loved ones… who pinned out that Prince has serious issues with that increasingly popular technology” (Robinson). Also I thought that halftime performance fell short in the sense that there were so many amazing opportunities for incredible guests. I think that not bringing NSYNC on stage was a big disappointment.
Finally, statistically speaking, ratings were down for the Super Bowl which isn’t a surprise considering that the NFL ratings were down this year in general. According to CBS, “An estimated 103.4 million people watched the Philadelphia Eagles beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, the smallest audience for television’s biggest yearly event since 2009” (Picchi).
I don’t think that the Super Bowl is as powerful and influential as it used to be. It seems that it isn’t an ideal platform to advertise as it is absurdly expensive, and gives opportunity to create more crisis situations for brands.
Works Cited
Hibberd, James. “Super Bowl Pickup Truck Ad Outrages Viewers by Using MLK Speech.” EW.com, 5 Feb. 2018, ew.com/tv/2018/02/04/ram-mlk-super-bowl-ad/?utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social.
Picchi, Aimee. “Super Bowl LII: Ratings for Football's Biggest Game Lowest since 2009.” CBS News, 5 Feb. 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/super-bowl-lii-tv-ratings/.
Robinson, Joanna. “Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl Halftime Show Included a Subtle Nod to Janet Jackson.” Vanities, Vanity Fair, 5 Feb. 2018, www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/02/video-justin-timberlake-halftime-super-bowl-janet-jackson-homage-prince?mbid=social_twitter.
After viewing this year’s Super Bowl, I felt that the commercials were much better than previous years, especially last year, but the half time show was mediocre. Actually, it was one of the most boring halftime shows I can remember.
ReplyDeleteLast year, the commercials were very disappointing. I barely found any of them to be funny, entertaining, or even memorable. However, this year, there are plenty that I enjoyed and found to be effective. One of the top ones I enjoyed was Amazon’s “Alexa Lost Her Voice”. It used a variety of celebrities from Cardi B to Gordon Ramsey acting as the voice of Amazon’s ‘Alexa’, messing up the simple requests the user prompts. One of the best parts was playing Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” when the user asked for country music, twice.
Another ad I loved was the “It’s a Tide Ad” by Tide. Using actor, David Harbour, from Stranger Things, the ad jokingly made fun of various typical Super Bowl ads that one would see, followed by “it’s a Tide ad” at the end (Atkinson). It concluded by saying if the clothes are clean, then it must be a Tide ad. I thought this ad was funny, clever, and Harbour was a perfect fit, especially since one doesn’t see him in really any commercials.
However, there were some ads that fell short this year as well. One of the first that comes to mind is Ram’s “Built to Serve” commercial. The ad featured Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech as a voiceover, showing images of Americans either working, with their families, or serving for their country. That’s great and all, but what does it have to do with trucks? The ad’s description reads: “In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ram truck owners also believe in a life of serving others” (Hibberd). But I’m not buying it, and most others are outraged as well. People used terms such as, “tone deaf” and “bad taste” (Hibberd). Others to mention that were subpar are Diet Coke and Pringles. Diet Coke’s commercial featured a girl dancing, which was just weird and pretty boring. Pringles used Bill Harder to say “wow” at the concept of stacking Pringles’ flavors. They really missed the mark with this one because Owen Wilson is known for saying “wow” and they went with Bill Harder, which gave us a mediocre ad that wasn’t funny.
Justin Timberlake performed at the Super Bowl once before in 2004 along with Janet Jackson, Kid Rock, P. Diddy, and Nelly. The 2004 show consisted of the famous flashing of Janet Jackson, which shocked everyone and was the talk for weeks. This year’s halftime show by JT probably won’t be talked about at all. Nothing about it was memorable, nor was it entertaining. I’m all for his music, I used to listen to him all the time, but it just wasn’t interesting. I lost interest probably half of the way through and left the room to do something else.
The Super Bowl is still as influential for advertisers, performers, and the NFL as it was in the past, if not more. The price of a 30 second ad has basically done nothing but increase since 2000. It was 2.2 million then and has now risen to five million (“Cost of Super Bowl Advertising Breakdown by Year”). Part of the reason people tune into the Super Bowl is to see what new ads companies have come up with, especially those who aren’t into sports. The halftime show and commercials are what draw most of the audience in.
Works Cited
Atkinson, Katie. “Best & Worst Super Bowl 2018 Commercials.” Billboard, 4 Feb. 2018, www.billboard.com/articles/news/super-bowl/8098020/best-worst-super-bowl-2018-commercials.
Hibberd, James. “Super Bowl Pickup Truck Ad Outrages Viewers by Using MLK Speech.” EW.com, ew.com/tv/2018/02/04/ram-mlk-super-bowl-ad/?utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social.
“Cost of Super Bowl Advertising Breakdown by Year.” Superbowl-Ads.com Article Archive, Nielsen Media Research, superbowl-ads.com/cost-of-super-bowl-advertising-breakdown-by-year/.
Looking back at this year’s Super Bowl, in terms of the changing media environment, I personally feel that the impact of the event is slowly declining from years past. Specifically, I think of Super Bowl advertisements. What once was a celebrated, exciting part of the airing of the Super Bowl has now lost its level of interest to viewers, or so it feels that way. One of the notable facts about Super Bowl ads this year was that they were just about the same cost as they were last year, whereas in Super Bowls past, advertisement prices were slowly rising. Now that these prices are flat lining, it may be the beginning of an era where it will be difficult to sell ad slots for future Super Bowls. Aside from the $5 million price tag for a 30-second slot, advertisers struggle to decide if having a slot is even worth it. Though the Super Bowl reaches around 100 million viewers, the NFL itself faces much controversy and political issues within the sport, especially this past season with player protests. “[A] risk exists that the 2018 Super Bowl could potentially see protests. Such an occurrence could shift the focus away from the game, and of more concern to marketers, the advertising” (Rucker 2018). For the most part, companies tend not to associate themselves in social issues due to risk of being criticized or ridiculed for their views.
ReplyDeleteI do believe the Super Bowl tends to keep up with the times, however, specifically when selecting their halftime show performer. This year’s performer, Justin Timberlake, brought in many viewers, as a well-respected performer, who was a veteran at Super Bowl halftime shows. Also, with buzz on social media sites trying to figure out if he would bring out former *NSYNC members, or his iconic Super Bowl partner, Janet Jackson. Neither of the two possibilities happened. But, Timberlake did pay tribute to Prince, singing with a projection of the deceased pop artist while singing “Purple Rain” in his honor. Obviously something like that would catch America’s attention towards tuning into the Super Bowl.
Another idea to factor into the Super Bowl’s possible lack of impressions is the era of cable cutters and cable trimmers. With many streaming platforms that are offered today, it may take away from NBC’s rights to air the nationwide event. “In an age of increasing streaming options and coming off a NFL season that was dogged by controversy and double digit ratings drops, the broadcast viewership decline from the Patriots’ win last year in Houston on Fox is really no surprise” (Patten 2018). I, myself, was one who fell into this category of streaming the game from an Amazon Fire stick, as opposed to traditional cable. Though it wasn’t my choice, and was the only option we had at my Super Bowl party host’s house, it still goes to show that there have become other ways to get the game in house rather than just cable. In a study done by comScore, they found that “Cord-cutters are more likely to use a streaming box or stick to power their OTT viewing habits. These devices are present in 71 percent of cord cutting homes vs. 59 percent of all OTT viewing Wi-Fi homes” (Rich 2017). I do feel as though in the ever-changing way people get their cable, or just stream the Super Bowl in general, it will affect the way it will influence viewers, and advertisers as well.
Works Cited
Patten, Dominic. “Super Bowl Ratings Slip To 8-Year Low As Eagles Score Historic Win.” Deadline, 5 Feb. 2018.
Rich, Mike. “What Behavioral Data Tells Us About the OTT Viewing Habits of Cord-Cutters.” ComScore, Inc., 12 June 2017.
Rucker, Derek. “Why Super Bowl Advertisers Face Challenges In 2018.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Jan. 2018.
In our ever-changing media environment, the Super Bowl is as influential as ever - a showcase for sponsors, performers, professional athletes and journalists. I was very curious to see how this would impact the Super Bowl’s ratings as many Americans banned the NFL from their homes. However, from commercials to the half time show to the football game itself, there is something for everyone to tune into at the annual event.
ReplyDeleteAs for the game itself, almost everyone I was with was rooting for the Eagles, purely because they did not want the Patriots to win. I was excited that the Eagles had their first ever championship. As Battaglio writes, “The audience level for the Super Bowl has always towered over the rest of television, delivering 106 million viewers or more since 2010. Last year, the New England Patriots’ stunning comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons had an average audience of 111.3 million viewers on Fox, making the game the fifth-most watched TV event of all time, according to Nielsen” (Battaglio). These numbers are not surprising considering there are a wide variety of reasons for people to tune in even if they are not a fan of football, like myself. It is pretty insane that Super Bowl LI was the fifth-most watched event on television.
On to the commercials - I believe that this year’s Super Bowl commercials were sub-par. In years past, I have found myself laughing very hard at commercials or getting teary eyed. This year, I only found a few very funny like Odell Beckham Junior and Eli Manning’s remake of Dirty Dancing. Otherwise I feel like there are normally more commercials with babies or animals and there were not many this year. I was not a fan of the Tide ads mostly because there were so many. Budweiser normally does a better job as well with pulling on the heartstrings, but this year they just bragged about their water donations. In an Ad Week article about advertising trends that could be expected from Super Bowl LII Erik Oster writes, “Viewers can also expect to see a lot of celebrities in this year’s Super Bowl ads.” (Oster). This was definitely true – from Betty White to Danny DeVito to Matt Damon – celebrities were definitely featured in the commercials. Oster went on to predict that he thought female celebrities would be the focus of many commercials. However, I did not find this to be true at all as many male actors and male athletes were showcased.
In terms of the halftime show, I love Justin Timberlake so I was so excited to see him perform. His dance moves were awesome and you can tell he is a true entertainer. A lot of my friends were rooting for an NSYNC reunion or a Janet Jackson feature, but neither happened. I was pleased to see that he did a Prince tribute and a shot panned to Minneapolis lighting up in Prince’s purple guitar logo. Some fans were worried that the Prince estate would not agree, because Prince was not a fan of having tributes with holograms of himself. However the Prince estate said in a statement, “ ‘Justin Timberlake, the NFL, and the City of Minneapolis used the stadium and the city to give a beautiful hometown tribute to Prince,’” (Blas). I think the tribute was well received because it was not a hologram of Prince, but rather a duet with pictures playing in the background.
All in all, I really liked the half time show and I, shockingly, found the game more interesting than the commercials. Hopefully the Super Bowl in 2019 will be an equally entertaining game.
Works Cited:
Blas, Lorena. “Why Prince Fans Are Bashing Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl Halftime Performance.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 4 Feb. 2018.
Battaglio, Stephen. “NBC Says Super Bowl Commercials Are Nearly Sold out, Topping $5 Million per 30-Second Spot.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2018.
Oster, Erik, “4 Advertising Trends to Expect From Super Bowl LII.” Adweek. Adweek. 8 Jan. 2018.
This years Super Bowl was all around great in my opinion. First off, I watched my team bring our city its first Super Bowl EVER in what was one of the most electrifying games ever as well as an absolute roller coaster filled night of purely raw emotion. The game itself had everything that you could possibly want out of a football game. Justin Peters from Slate.com put it best, “Super Bowl LII was a corker. It began with a great storyline—a team that had never won a Super Bowl versus a team that seems to win every other year—and more than lived up to that promise. Tom Brady played the best game of his career and Nick Foles caught a touchdown pass. There were some big hits, some close calls, some flamboyant coaching decisions, some lead changes, and a bunch of missed kicks just to keep things interesting. The game was mostly free from turnovers and penalties. The outcome wasn’t certain until the final play. No doubt about it: Sunday night’s Super Bowl was a very, very good football game.” Besides the game of course, the commercials and the halftime show have become the most iconic components of the Super Bowl. This is the one time of year when the game cuts to commercial you actually want to watch and when its halftime you are entertained as opposed to getting up and taking a break from watching. In todays day and age that is almost unheard of and for the most part it is unheard of except for the Super Bowl of course! There weren’t a ton of commercials that directly stood out to me like they have in years in the past. This years commercials were broader in a sense and stood out to me in terms of the company. For example Tide had a few funny commercials with one of their many commercials coming in second place for Ad Age’s first Super Bowl ranking. (Ives 2018.) Besides the Tide ads, the most memorable ad that comes to mind was the Amazon commercial where Alexa loses her voice and they bring in celebrities to fill in for her. It gave me a good laugh and I had a pretty good idea that it was going to be successful right after I saw it. This quote from the article on the ads by Nat Ives shows how successful it really was. “Amazon's "Alexa Loses Her Voice" spot was named most entertaining and best overall among marketing pros surveyed by Morning Consult for Ad Age's first Super Bowl ranking—measuring not just entertainment value but brand effectiveness. See full results for every ad below.” (Ives 2018.) Despite lower ratings for the NFL all year, I still think that the Super Bowl is still the most prestigious showcase in terms of company’s advertising their respective products. The reality is that it is not just the NFL whose ratings are down it is all of cable television that has been suffering recently. In what was one of the most exciting games played in recent memory as well as well received halftime performances I think that for the circumstances the NFL, the advertisers, and Justin Timberlake did an exceptional job and that it was a success across the board. As for the renowned halftime show, Justin Timberlake was a great choice. Going with Timberlake was definitely a safe and popular move. With Timberlake you know exactly what you are getting and that his controversial Janet Jackson show days were a thing of the past! It wasn’t necessarily as flashy as some of the past performances, but it was really authentic and beautify executed. It was said best in the Vanity Fair article I read, “Short of a Jackson cameo, it was quite the show.” It was just very well received by the masses and there was nothing controversial or bad to point a finger at. Overall, the Super Bowl was a success from the game itself, to JT doing his thing at the half, and to a solid set of ads in between it all.
ReplyDeleteSources
DeleteIves, N. (2018). Amazon, Tide Top Ad Age's New Super Bowl Ad Rankings With Morning Consult. [online] Adage.com. Available at: http://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/alexa-tide-win-super-bowl-ad-rating-morning-consult/312180/ [Accessed 6 Feb. 2018].
Peters, J. (2018, February 05). Super Bowl LII Was the Sixth-Best Super Bowl Ever. Retrieved February 06, 2018, from https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/super-bowl-lii-was-the-sixth-best-super-bowl-ever.html
Robinson, J. (2018, February 05). Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl Halftime Show Included a Subtle Nod to Janet Jackson. Retrieved February 06, 2018, from https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/02/video-justin-timberlake-halftime-super-bowl-janet-jackson-homage-prince?mbid=social_twitter
This years Super Bowl was exciting on a number of levels, and I believe the Super Bowl will always remain a staple in American media on a yearly basis. The buildup to Super Bowl Sunday is unlike any ether sport spectacle in America with regards to the hype that surrounds the game every year no matter the matchup. This years Super Bowl did not disappoint. While I am not a fan of either team in this years Super Bowl, it is easy to appreciate the greatness of Tom Brady and difficult not to root for the underdog Eagles team. That being said, regardless of the matchup, the Super Bowl remains one of the most profitable event for advertisers annually. With tens of millions of viewers watching nationwide, guaranteed to have eyeballs planted on the TV screen, the Super Bowl remains one of the most expensive time slots for an advertiser that wants to promote their brand. Advertisers water at the mouth at the mere thought of having a Super Bowl commercial. Yet, many companies fail to ever receive the timeslots because of how steep the price is for commercial time.
ReplyDeleteNow more than ever brands are looking to extend their advertising to other forms of media such as social media on smartphones, computers, and tablets. Yet, companies today still understand the value of brand exposure through traditional television viewership, for that’s where the bulk of eyeballs truly is during the game. Hof-fer associate partner pointed out that “every brand still wants to be relevant on social media during the Super Bowl. But the days of everyone needing a live, up-to-the-moment social war room have passed.” In other words, companies are realizing that they do not need to manufacture engagement if it is not there. A great Super Bowl ad will speak for itself, and companies will be rewarded by fans engaging with their peers through social media about their favorite Super Bowl ads. As Patrick Coffee mentions in his article, as of Monday morning the top two trending stories on Twitter were with regards to the Super Bowl ads by Tide and Dodge Ram. Therefore, if a company makes a Super Bowl ad that is interesting, entertaining, or controversial, engagement and brand exposure through social media and mew media platforms will follow. In james Hibberds article on Entertainment, he highlights the controversial ad made by Dodge Ram in which they used MLK Jr. audio in order to push their car sales. Apparently, viewers on social media used terms like “’tone deaf’ and ‘shameful’ and ‘bad taste’” when describing the ad. While they may feel this way, some people would argue that all publicity is good publicity. While Dodge would have liked for their commercial to be received in a positive light, the controversy surrounding the commercial resulted in a top two spot in the trending section of twitter the day following the Super Bowl. This means millions of more eyes are being exposed to the Dodge brand after the Super Bowl is over. For any company that is a win.
Overall, I think this years Super Bowl was on par with Super Bowls of the past. While I am far from a fan of either teams involved this year, there is no denying the spectacle that surrounds the event, and the huge opportunity that remains for companies. This is not to forget the halftime show spectacle that remains a must watch every year. In Joanna Robinsons article in Vanity Fair, she describes how “Justin Timberlake’s halftime performance was on of the most controversial before he set foot on the field”. Clearly, the game itself, the ads during breaks, and the halftime show all remain one of the biggest spectacles in America for the audience and advertisers alike.
Works Cited
Delete1. Ives., Nat, and Nat Ives Nat Ives is executive editor at Ad Age, which he joined in 2005 as a reporter on the publishing beat. He previously helped cover the media and ad industries as a news assistant at The New York Times and reported on commercial real estate for Institutional Investor newsletters. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2001. Follow View all articles by this author. “Amazon, Tide Top Ad Age's New Super Bowl Ad Rankings With Morning Consult.” Ad Age, 5 Feb. 2018, adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/alexa-tide-win-super-bowl-ad-rating-morning-consult/312180/.
2. Robinson, Joanna. “Justin Timberlakes Super Bowl Halftime Show Included a Subtle Nod to Janet Jackson.” Vanities, Vanity Fair, 5 Feb. 2018, www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/02/video-justin-timberlake-halftime-super-bowl-janet-jackson-homage-prince?mbid=social_twitter.
3. “Super Bowl pickup truck ad outrages viewers by using MLK speech.” EW.com, ew.com/tv/2018/02/04/dodge-mlk-super-bowl-ad/?utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social.