US network NBC is seeking a record sum of around $4.5m (€3.3m) for a 30-second advertisement during its coverage of the 2015 Super Bowl American football game, according to the Variety magazine.
Variety, citing ad-buying executives, said NBC has also been asking potential Super Bowl sponsors to pay a similar amount for a package of advertising in other NBCUniversal-owned sports properties, including English Premier League football matches on pay-television broadcaster NBC Sports Network and sports broadcasts on Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo and sister cable outlet mun2.
NBC is said to be in talks for the sale of more than 40 30-second spots in the NFL’s showpiece game, but Variety added that approximately 20 to 25 of the ad slots may have already been sold, mostly to advertisers who are multiyear buyers of the game and who typically pay rates that are below the market value.
The Fox network sought $4m for a 30-second ad during Super Bowl XLVIII, which took place on February 2. Fox’s coverage of the 2014 Super Bowl attracted an average of 111.5 million viewers to set a new all-time audience record for a television programme in the country.
Fox said that the figure for the game, which the Seattle Seahawks won 43-8 against the Denver Broncos, was larger than the 111.3 million average registered for NBC’s coverage of the 2012 Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots.
NBC is set to broadcast the 2015 Super Bowl from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on February 1.