Super Bowl Advertising Expensive But Worth It?

I ran some interesting numbers I thought I would share. Please understand there are many ways to quantify the impact of the ad buy, and this is just one example. Here are the facts (as I know them);

- Average 30 second spot cost $2.7m

- Super Bowl Television Audience was $97m (a record)

- CPM translation = $28 (expensive for TV)

-If translated in the web world with an industy average CTR (click through rate) of %.04, there would be a total of 38k click throughs. Each click cost $70.

So, the question and the way to determine the ROI is for the advertiser to ask themselves what do I get in return for $70 a click. If those clicks turn into conversions (i.e. sales), then maybe it’s a good investment. However, what if the conversion rate is only 20%. That means a cost per conversion is $350. That’s a lot of beer, pepsi, doritos, etc.

So, does Super Bowl advertising pay off…hard to say…really depends on the advertiser and their goals. The Super Bowl does have one huge distinct advantage over normal TV advertising…people actually watch the ads…might be the only show where ads are Tivo repellent.