CBS Super Bowl LIII ad sales ‘more than 90-per-cent sold’

CBS has sold more than 90 per cent of its Super Bowl advertising slots with just under a month to go before the marquee event, president and chief advertising revenue officer Jo Ann Ross revealed.

The network is hoping to make around $500m (€435m) in advertising revenue from the event, with 30-second slots costing $5.1m-5.3m each during the game.

There are a “handful” of slots left. The third quarter is sold out, with limited availability in the first half and some openings in the fourth quarter.

Title sponsors have also been secured for each pre- and post-game hour of programming. The network will broadcast seven hours of pre-game coverage.

A number of companies have revealed they are advertising at Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta on February 3. Anheuser-Busch has bought five-and-a-half minutes of airtime. Other companies involved include PepsiCo, Persil, Kraft-Heinz, Audi, Intuit Brand Turbo Tax, Bumble, M&M’s, Colgate, Pringles, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Avocados from Mexico and WeatherTech.

“We are in great shape. It is almost sold out – we are over 90-per-cent sold,” Ross said at a media event in New York.

“There has been great interest in our ancillary programming. We have secured title sponsors for every pre-game and post-game hour.

“We have mix of evergreen advertisers that come back every year and we have some newcomers. Important categories for us are beer, soda, autos, movie studios and tech. They will be very well represented in the game, a lot of those categories have multiple units.

“We have seen some of the creative already and it is Super Bowl worthy, and people do tune in just to see the commercials.”

Ross added: “The last two Super Bowls since San Francisco [the last time CBS aired the event, in 2016] were not as well sold as we are now.”

CBS will use 115 cameras for the event at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, including multiple 8K cameras, 16 cameras with 4K (ultra HD) capabilities and four cameras with live augmented-reality graphics.

It was also revealed that there will be no gambling references in CBS’s coverage. “We will be flexible going forward, but it’s only been legalized in a few states so far,” CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus told Reuters. “It wasn’t something we were going to in some ways burden our announcers with.”

Meanwhile, the Alliance of American Football – which the network will broadcast after the Super Bowl – will be promoted during the Super Bowl.