Fox Nears Sell-Out of Super Bowl Ads Before End of Summer (EXCLUSIVE)

As a seasoned movie critic with over three decades of experience under my belt, I must say that Fox Corp.’s strategy for Super Bowl LIX is nothing short of a masterclass in salesmanship. It’s like watching a perfect pitch in a baseball game – smooth, calculated, and leaving the audience (or in this case, advertisers) spellbound.


Fox Corporation stands on the brink of achieving an impressive victory during Super Bowl LIX, despite the fact that the game isn’t set to begin for about six months.

The company set to air the 2025 Super Bowl from Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on February 9 has nearly sold out all available commercial spots, as stated by three media experts privy to recent talks. These sources claim that Fox is capitalizing on the high demand for the event by asking over $7 million for a 30-second ad slot and requiring any interested parties to agree to an advertising package encompassing other Fox properties to finalize the deal. Notably, securing ad support for Fox’s post-season Major League Baseball telecasts is a priority for Fox sales executives, as one of the buyers noted.

As someone who has been involved in marketing for several years, I can confidently say that the recent move to restrict commercials during the Super Bowl primarily affects small, under-the-radar businesses. These companies, often startups or entrepreneurs, see the Big Game as an opportunity to gain exposure and generate interest for their products and services.

“A customer inquires if there’s space for a larger store that is already established within the game? I confirm that there is indeed space. However, additional one-time stores are unlikely.”

Fox declined to make executives available for comment.

It’s generally not ideal for TV networks to reveal early on that an event like the Super Bowl is sold out. This is because a sudden economic downturn could lead to unforeseen challenges for the sales team. Additionally, the process of selling ad spots often involves unexpected issues such as advertisers having second thoughts due to the high cost or struggling to create a compelling commercial.

Despite this, it seems that the speed at which Fox may successfully sell all its Super Bowl advertising slots is expedited, as suggested by buyers. One of these buyers predicts that Fox could officially announce having secured sponsors for its entire Super Bowl inventory as early as September. In contrast, CBS, who aired this year’s Super Bowl LVIII, didn’t confirm the event was fully sold until November of last year. As a cautionary note, Fox experienced high demand for next year’s Super Bowl LVII in the previous year’s “upfront” market, where TV networks seek advance ad commitments for their upcoming programming cycle. However, concerns about the economy rose in the fall, causing the network to spend several months trying to offload the final 5% of its Super Bowl inventory. Fox finally announced a sell-out only a few days before the game.

Despite an increasing number of advertisers shifting funds away from traditional TV, the Super Bowl continues to hold considerable appeal – even in times when the NFL expands its lower-priced weekly games through Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” and special “Black Friday” matches. A staggering 123.7 million viewers tuned into Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, as per Nielsen data, to witness the Kansas City Chiefs triumph over the San Francisco 49ers in an uncommon overtime segment. CBS’ broadcast attracted an average of 120.3 million viewers – a record-breaking single-network audience for this event. Moreover, an additional 2.3 million viewers watched the Spanish-language broadcast on Univision, and 1.2 million caught the kid-friendly version that aired on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite.

The high interest in the 2025 Super Bowl has led Fox to propose a flexible commercial break option to the NFL, allowing them to accommodate more advertising. This strategy was used during their 2020 broadcast of Super Bowl LIV, where they secured extra commercial interruptions for two 60-second ads following league approval. They were granted this exception after selling out all ad slots and receiving continued interest from advertisers eager to be part of the game, a trend that is expected to continue in the coming weeks.

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2024-08-12 16:46