Are Super Bowl Ads Worth the Price Tag?

No matter what time of the year it is, there is a football fan yearning to see his or her team in the big game, and an equally bored spouse who gets through all the fist pumping by enjoying the Super Bowl commercials. For the 2014 game, ads ran companies upwards of $4 million that’s more than many Americans will make in his or her entire lifetime, for a brief 30 seconds of TV glory. So is that spectacular price tag worth it? The answer might surprise you.
Why Companies Are Willing to Pay So Much

The simple answer is audience. With the Super Bowl you have a riveted audience of millions, across many age and race demographics, plus both genders. At no other time during the year are so many Americans huddled around their TVs for those contained hours, and now that Super Bowl commercials have become the primary source of entertainment for an estimated half the viewers, companies can see the benefit of pouring money into creating memorable ads. But should your small operation aspire to the Super Bowl, when 29 Prime focuses on branding your local business for a much more affordable rate?
Opposing Views

29 Prime focuses on branding your local business, ,

enormous audience (about 108 million viewers in 2013), plus the aura of importance that surrounds a brand who has nabbed a coveted spot. Critics, on the other hand, say that the gargantuan is just too high.
So Who is Right?

If studies are to be believed, the nay-sayers are in the right. According to research firm Communicus, four out of five commercials fail to spark enough interest in consumers to make a purchase, despite the fact that they are about 10 percent more likely (than non-Super Bowl ads) to stay with viewers after the big game.

Face it: the odds aren’t in the brand’s favor, so you should probably shelve those Super Bowl ad dreams and focus on marketing to your local audience.