Super Bowl commercials, even at the $5 million per spot that NBC is getting for this year’s big game, are a pretty good value, according to new data from analytics firm iSpot.tv.
While the New England Patriots were making history with a comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons, advertisers were getting an above-average return on investment and getting not only huge exposure but visits by consumers to their websites and apps as a result of investment in Super Bowl advertising.
iSpot.tv measures viewership based on usage of 7.3 million connected TV sets and attributes the effectiveness of those spots by cross-matching those homes with their online activity.
Working with three unnamed advertisers who cooperated by provided data on sales performance, iSpot.TV crunched the numbers, comparing the Super Bowl to other shows those advertisers bought as part of their media plans.
The Super Bowl resulted in an above-average number of conversions regardless of industry, though some brands did better than others, iSpot.tv concluded.
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For two of the brands, the Super Bowl’s conversion rate ranked in the top 10 of all the shows in their media plans.
For all three brands, the conversion rate for the Super Bowl was in the top five programs they bought, iSpot.TV said.
iSpot.tv looked at the effectiveness of spot by looking at the cost-per-lead they generated over a one-day, seven day and 14 days window.
For unnamed Advertiser A, Using the 14 day window, the cost per lead for the Super Bowl was $4.41, ranking fourth among the advertiser’s media choices behind Property Brothers, Friends and NFL Honors.
For Advertiser B, the cost per lead was a relatively high $55.37. That cost per lead was over 14 days was higher than shows like PGA Golf, The First 48 and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
For Advertiser C, the cost per lead was $3.49, ranked ninth among shows it buys. The cost per lead beat college basketball, which was number 10 and was close to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“And while the specific cost per lead for other programs could be lower than Super Bowl LI advertising, the game, even with its price tag, didn’t just yield a better-than-average return on investment, the decision to advertise is amplified in other ways,” iSpot.tv said in a report.
“For example, by connecting ad airings to explicit digital actions, iSpot.tv found Super Bowl LI advertisers generated a collective 121.9 million online views and 2.37 million actions on social media, which generated over 3.6 billion social impressions. The ads aren’t just great drivers of awareness, they motivate activity that is real and measurable.”
iSpot.tv said the Super Bowl had an “undeniable halo effect,” putting sponsors in the national conversation about advertising, generating spikes in social media engagement and web visits beyond Super Sunday.
“But make no mistake, stripping away all the other cultural benefits and just looking at a pure cost-per conversion basis, the Super Bowl doesn’t just hold its own, it does very well. It remains a highly powerful TV tool for advertisers, which is why so many come back year after year,” iSpot.tv said.
