I thought most of the studios, except Disney, had pretty much given up on the Superbowl because the cost was becoming prohibitive compared to the returns the films were making.
It’s like the San Diego Comic Con. The studios stopped previewing their films because the reaction was always fantastic but the crowd was the target audience. Not enough to make any noticeable change in the wider market.
Saying that, I’ll never forget the Superbowl trailer for the Matrix sequels. The awesome use of the music track Supermoves and the amazing action it teased.
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The Super Bowl is by far the biggest TV event of the year. But for movie studios eager to capitalize on the enormous power of the NFL as a marketing platform for upcoming blockbusters, it’s not the only game in town, and sports-related opportunities to impress hard-to-reach audiences don’t begin and end there.
Inevitably, there’s considerable focus on which movie ads drop during the Super Bowl, which takes place Feb. 9 this year and will be broadcast by Fox. That’s in part because of the lofty price tag associated with advertising during the game, with reports the network is commanding $7 million on average per 30-second spot.
The opportunities to capitalize on the NFL’s unparalleled popularity, however, don’t stop there. And marketers have become increasingly savvy about leveraging excitement around the playoffs, including this weekend’s league-championship games, which also promise to be an enormous attraction.
Disney has aggressively used football to promote the first major blockbuster to roll out this calendar year, the Marvel sequel “Captain America: Brave New World,” during the playoffs. Scheduled to open Feb. 14, the Anthony Mackie-starring film already received extensive advertising during earlier rounds of the playoffs ahead of a synergistic “sneak peek” during this week’s college-football championship game on Disney-owned ESPN, which averaged more than 22 million viewers, a 12% decline from last year.
Although the Super Bowl, which attracted almost 124 million viewers on NBC and its sister networks last year, dominates sports ratings, the NFL playoffs and division championships still deliver vast audiences of their own, including millions of younger men, a key demographic that’s often difficult to reach via linear TV platforms.
Notably, this weekend’s AFC championship games — defending Super Bowl champs Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Buffalo Bills on CBS and the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Washington Commanders on Fox, both airing Sunday — will likely deliver lots of eyeballs to whatever ads studios run. Last year’s conference championship games, Kansas City vs. Baltimore on CBS and Detroit vs. San Francisco on Fox, averaged 55.5 million and 56.3 million viewers, respectively.
Ads in those games reportedly cost about $3 million each — a relative bargain compared to the Super Bowl. Although that game carries plenty of intangible benefits, including the media hoopla that surrounds the Super Bowl ads and the game’s ability to reach viewers as interested in the ads as the on-field action.
While there will be other major sporting events between now and summer, including March Madness (the NCAA basketball tournament) and NBA playoffs from April into June, nothing in sports rivals the NFL in terms of size or scale — especially in an increasingly fragmented TV environment.
Film marketers nevertheless face tough decisions on how best to allocate their budgets, since the Super Bowl offers the ability to gin up excitement about movies — often months in advance — but no assurances of success.
Last year’s lineup of Super Bowl movie ads included the eventual hits “Deadpool & Wolverine” (which bypassed in-game rates, airing a teaser spot during the pregame festivities), “Wicked” and “Twisters,” but also “The Fall Guy” and “IF,” which delivered disappointing box office returns when they opened in May.
Studios generally play their cards close to the vest on Super Bowl marketing plans until the last minute, and this year remains no exception.
Disney will be back to promote unspecified properties in Super Bowl LIX, a studio insider confirmed to TheWrap. Opening the same week as the game, “Captain America: Brave New World” is the most immediate concern — the studio is leveraging Harrison Ford turning into Red Hulk in marketing the first “Captain America” movie without Chris Evans. But other major releases due this year include another Marvel title, “Thunderbolts*,” as well as the live-action “Lilo & Stitch” in May. All are possibilities for Super Bowl spots.
But those marketing decisions aren’t strictly limited to movies, with TV and streamers recognizing the inherent power of the Super Bowl for projects with the heft to merit such exposure. Amazon, for example, used the 2022 Super Bowl to tease its “The Lord of the Rings” series, while Disney’s spots last year included FX/Hulu’s period epic“Shōgun,” which went on to dominate the Emmys and Golden Globes.
