Would a Rose by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet? Super Bowl Ads

America is buzzing about this Sunday’s big game. Who will win? Chiefs or 49ers? How will the halftime show go? Will JLo and Shakira be incredible or will one of them have to live in the other’s shadow? What inevitable “surprise” musical guests will they trot out? Will Demi Lovato nail the national anthem or will she flub the lyrics like so many of her predecessors? Along with all these questions, we wonder – what will be the best ads on game day?

Companies and advertising agencies spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl slots. In 2019, CBS charged a record $5.25 million for just 30-seconds of air time – that’s roughly $175,000 per second. For this year’s telecast, Fox charged a record $5.6 million for a 30-second spot. Agencies spend all year creating their, hopefully, brilliant campaigns and some companies even spend their entire year’s marketing budget on one short ad.

Despite the price steady rising prices of Super Bowl ad buys, viewership is steadily declining. The 2019 Super Bowl was watched by the fewest people in 11 years. Now, when we talk about ratings the Super Bowl is still the most-watched event of the year – 2019’s low numbers still included about 98.2 million viewers. But when you consider that 2018 had 103.5 million and 2017 came in at 111.9 million, there is clearly a significant decline. However, regular NFL season ratings are up 3% this year from last year, giving the league and Fox hopes for good numbers on Sunday.

While these ads are guaranteed to be seen by millions, does airing an ad during the Super Bowl really matter as much as it used to?

Not being a big sports ball fan myself, I remember looking forward to the Super Bowl, because the ads were must-watch events in their own right. Everyone would take bathroom breaks and load up on snacks during the game and rush back to the couch for the commercial break. Every year we looked forward to seeing what feats of creativity brands would come up with and for days, if not years after, everyone would discuss the most memorable ads.

Who can forget the adorable puppy’s love for a Budweiser Clydesdale? Or Michael Jordon and Larry Bird’s epic showdown over a McDonald’s Big Mac? Or Cindy Crawford and a can of Pepsi changing the meaning of thirsty? And we’re still quoting Wendy’s three old ladies asking, “Where’s the Beef?”

But these commercials are not the must-watch content they used to be. Before, if you missed an ad, you missed out on the next day’s water cooler talk. These days, if you miss an ad, you can find them readily available online. Often, today’s ads are even available to stream weeks before game day. So if I don’t feel like sitting through 4 hours of football (of which the average game only includes about 11 minutes of actual play-action), I can skip the game and watch all of the ads later.

More and more people are opting to stream the game rather than watch it on the broadcast networks. And, depending on where you’re streaming it, you might not be seeing the same carefully crafted ads as the regular TV viewers. Moreover, modern technology makes it so that any ad, if it’s memorable enough, can go viral and be talked about long after its initial run.

With this in mind, are Super Bowl ads still worth the astronomical price tag? Or is there value in the name itself? When brands release an ad, even online, are they going to get more viewers just by being able to call it a “Super Bowl commercial?” Does the Super Bowl association give that commercial more weight?

With all of the “Best of” lists that exist specifically for Super Bowl commercials (both online and on television), I’m inclined to think that brands are no longer paying for the spot as much as they’re paying for the right to be called a “Super Bowl commercial.”

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Maybe, if that specific breed of rose was notoriously sweeter smelling than your average rose.

-Genoa