With the kickoff of the NFL championship game fast approaching, NBCUniversal Media LLC said it had finally sold out all of the in-game inventory for Super Bowl LII.
"Super Bowl LII is sold out," Dan Lovinger, executive vice president of advertising sales at NBC Sports Group, said in a Feb. 2 statement. "We booked record revenue, and advertiser enthusiasm for the game is at an all-time high."
Wix.com and quick-service restaurant Wendy's were among the companies securing spots that helped NBC reach an in-game sellout, according to an NBC Sports spokesman.
NBCU has been pushing toward some $500 million in ad sales for a Feb. 4 total, reflecting the packaging of Super Bowl ad sales on NBC (US), its Spanish-language cable network UNIVERSO (US) and on digital platforms. The game telecast of the New England-Philadelphia match-up kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET that day.
Lovinger has said Comcast’s programming arm would set a single-day ad sales record for a media company on Super Bowl Sunday, when units in pre- and post-game Super Bowl programming, as well as a post-game special edition of hit drama, "This Is Us," are added into the equation.
The NBC Sports spokesman confirmed that all of the inventory in those shows have been sold out as well. Throughout the process, NBC has maintained that its average in-game price is above $5 million per 30-second spot.
Lovinger has noted that there are a number of longer-form units in the game. For instance, Amazon.com Inc. is running a 90-second spot for its Alexa voice-assistant product, while Budweiser has a 60-second commercial touting water-relief efforts.
During the past two NFL championship games, neither FOX (US) with Super Bowl LI or CBS (US) with Super Bowl 50 declared that they had sold out their in-game inventory. When NBC covered Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, it reported that it was sold out four days before New England dethroned Seattle.
In the past, Super Bowl rights-holders sometimes sold out the big game in the fall. However, as media pricing to secure a berth in the most-watched telecast of the year has risen and costs around the creative for America’s biggest advertising platform and attendant promotion for the commercial in the days/weeks leading up to the contest have also jumped, the networks have found it tougher to tackle the final Super Bowl ad deals.
Lovinger reported on a press call on Jan. 11 that NBC had 10 in-game Super Bowl spots remaining.
NBCU's progress this year may have also slowed as it has constructed Super Bowl deals alongside schedules for the upcoming Winter Olympics from PyeongChang, South Korea, which begins on Feb. 8.
The company is expecting a big payoff: some $900 million in national ad sales, which would mark a Winter Games record.
NBCU has dubbed this month "The Best Feb. Ever" with the dovetailed events, marking the first time the same media company has held rights for the Super Bowl and Winter Games in such close proximity.
