This Sunday companies are shelling out on average $5.2 million to $5.6 million apiece to air a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl. That price, of course, only accounts for the ad buy on Fox, which will air this year’s match-up between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Advertising during the Super Bowl is always a massive expense, especially when compared to what else buyers could purchase if they allocated that money to something else. Below, take a look at some of the ad placements buyers could afford if they reconsidered their Super Bowl ad buy. (See past years’ Super Bowl ad tallies for 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.)
2.8 million clicks on Walmart search ads
For Walmart search ads, the cost per clicks varies by product category but can be as low as $2. With that being the case, a budget of $5.6 million could garner 2.8 million paid clicks.
One-third of a Peacock sponsorship
NBC is set to debut its streaming service, Peacock, next summer. Last fall the network offered advertisers two potential sponsorship packages for the service. The cheaper package will cost advertisers $15 million for 18 months, according to Ad Age. With that deal, advertisers would receive a 10% share of voice on the platform for the first six months, followed by a 5% share of voice for the next 12 months. If a company opted to not spend $5.6 million on a Super Bowl ad, it could buy just slightly more than one-third of a cheaper Peacock sponsorship package.
862 million digital out-of-home impressions
While the Super Bowl always draws a massive TV audience (98.2 million people tuned in to view the event last year on CBS), many people don’t care to watch. They might instead be out and about in places where digital out-of-home billboards are on display. A media buyer who did not wish to be named calculated that $5 million would bring an advertiser an eight-week purchase on such a billboard in 25 U.S. markets, with a 12.5% share of voice. That would account for 5,144 ads placements, which would deliver 862 million impressions, according to the buyer.
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16 million clicks on Instacart ads
Watching major television events like the Super Bowl with a second screen, such as a smartphone or tablet, is a common practice. And routine tasks like grocery shopping can be easily accomplished while viewing the game. Companies that are seeking to target people who do their grocery shopping online could turn to Instacart. As previously reported by Digiday, Instacart works directly with advertisers and the cost-per-click rates are generally $0.35 to $1.50, though this depends on the product category. If the rate were on the low end of $0.35, then a $5.6 million budget could bring 16 million clicks.
37 days of TikTok hashtag challenges
Companies like Chipotle and Mucinex have previously told Digiday that they found success in running hashtag challenges on TikTok. Ad Age reported, based on a leaked pitch deck, that those challenges cost $150,000 a day. With a $5.6 million budget, a company could run one hashtag challenge for 37 days or set up 37 different hashtag challenges over 37 days. (A press representative for TikTok declined to verify the price of a hashtag challenge.)
70 million impressions from Hulu pause ads
In January Hulu introduced its pause ad format and in recent months buyers shown more interest in it. The exact price of a pause ad is unknown, but buyers previously told Digiday it was “quadruple the normal video CPM” (which is now $20 to $30). That means a Hulu pause ad could have a CPM as low as $80 or as high as $120. With a $5.6 million buy, an advertiser could receive 46.6 million to 70 million impressions.
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1.4 billion impressions on Twitter
Ad buyers say the CPM for video ads on Twitter ranges from $4 to $5. With $5.6 million, an advertiser could purchase 1.12 billion to 1.4 billion impressions.
560 Instagram posts by ‘Bachelor’ stars
For marketers that are leaning toward hiring influencers, working with a reality TV star from “The Bachelor” could be the way to go since a new season is currently airing on ABC. The average CPM for hiring an influencer is $10, according to Vickie Segar, founder of Village Marketing. She added that most “The Bachelor” stars have about 1 million followers on Instagram, making their fee for a post about $10,000 on average. Using that price, a company could spend $5.6 million to purchase 560 Instagram posts from “Bachelor” influencers.
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