Ads in NFL Games: million per 30 seconds

The cost for a 30-second commercial in the NFL championship this season has surpassed 5 million U.S. dollars. It is an 11.1 percent increase compared to last year’s 4.5 million dollars.

The ad prices per unit at the Super Bowl Games are literally skyrocketing. According to Forbes, the unit price for ads has become 125 times pricier over the past five decades since the games first began in 1967. Over the same period, the S&P500 index has increased by 21.4 times. In other words, the ad cost went up 5.8 times more than the stock index.

By way of comparison, according to the New York Times, the 30-second unit price for the Major League World Series or the NBA championship finals was 520,000 dollars, just 1/9 that of the NFL.

The tickets for spots still sell like hot cakes. CBS said that their commercial spots for the season was already sold out by last November. This in turn manifests how popular the sports is in the Forbes estimated that if the ratings come out similar to the recent 5-year average of 46.7 percent, advertisers will be spending 107,000 dollars per 1 percent rating. This will be a record-high in the TV commercial history even after considering inflation. The highest such figure so far was 92,233 dollars in the Academy Awards last year.

Among Korean companies, Hyundai-Kia Motor Company, along with LG will be showing commercials during the season this year. While the world's fifth-largest automotive group is a regular advertiser but LG is new to this game. LG’s ad will be produced by director Ridley Scott, the creator of the mega hit movie "The Martian."

In fact, NFL commercials do not guarantee returns. U.S. market survey agency "Communicus" reported that 80 percent of NFL commercials fail to help increase sales figures. The agency also said that only 44 percent of viewers remembered a brand shown at the commercials.