Super Bowl Ad Rates Can Double Within Ten Years

The high price of Super Bowl advertising is not a new story: the cost of buying a 30-second ad first broke $1 million in 1995. The price has since grown quickly, and it shows no signs of slowing.

Last year, News Corporation’s Fox charged an average $3 million for a spot in the showdown between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. This year’s price of $3.5 million is a 17% increase and is double the rate charged for a 30-second spot 14 years ago. In the last 14 years, the price of a Super Bowl ad has increased by an average 5.7% annually. At that rate, it would take another 13 years for the price to double to $7 million. But Super Bowl ad costs can easily hit the $7 million mark within the next decade thanks to two key factors: the networks’ pricing power and a new set of rights agreements that will force networks to widen their revenue streams in the coming years.