Super Bowl Ads Seeing Record Price, Demand: Could Comcast Shares Get A Lift?

Super Bowl advertisements have commanded millions of dollars for many years. The next Super Bowl is five months away and close to selling out all advertising inventory and hitting record prices.

What Happened: Super Bowl LVI's 30-second commercials are selling out at a record rate and for a record range of $5.8 million to $6.2 million, Variety reports.  Some advertisements sold for as much as $6.5 million.

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), which owns the coverage rights to Super Blow LVI via NBC, reports it has only five Super Bowl ads left.

“We have seen demand exceed our remaining inventory,” sai NBCUniversal Executive Vice President Of Sports Ad Sales Dan Lovinger said.

Comcast expects the remaining inventory to sell out soon: “I wouldn’t sit on them for too long," he said.

Related Link: Could The 2020 Olympics See Record Profits For Comcast? 

Why It’s Important: CBS, owned by ViacomCBS Inc (NASDAQ: VIAC), sold last year’s Super Bowl advertisements for $5.5 million.

Fox Corp (NASDAQ: FOX) said this week it's seeking $6.5 million for Super Bowl LVII ads in 2023 and is beginning to sell ad space.

Some advertisers who sat out the last Super Bowl could return to the marquee event. Last Super Bowl saw some of the well-known advertisers like AB Inbev (NYSE: BUD), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) not buy as much space and focus on smaller products rather than its top-selling brands.

Another big item to watch will be strong returning demand from media companies for Super Bowl LVI. Many media companies sat out the last Super Bowl as theaters were closed.

Comcast said it saw a strong return from media companies that will promote theatrical and streaming content. Cryptocurrency and digital wallet companies are also among an industry mentioned seeing strong demand for Super Bowl ad space.

Comcast saw strong demand for its advertising space during the 2020 Summer Olympics. The company will be airing the Super Bowl LVI and the 2022 Winter Olympics during the same season, which could bring in a strong quarter of advertising revenue.

Comcast said it worked on some larger deals linking both events, giving advertisers a potential one-two punch for strong sports viewership.

Lovinger said the 2022 Winter Olympics are “extremely well sold” and seeing strong demand.