More thoughts on the studios abandonment of the Super Bowl

Posted by Chris

January 30, 2007

While watching “The Simpsons” last night it occured to me that their big-screen debut would have been perfect for a Super Bowl commercial. The animation has to be done by now, at least to the point where a full TV spot could be assembled. Hannibal Rising, Transformers, 300…heck, even 2008’s Iron Man could have gotten an extreme teaser trailer in the game. But they didn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not disappointed that more studios aren’t advertising during the Super Bowl. Alright, I kind of am but that’s partly because the three movies which are being promoted (Meet the Robinsons, Wild Hogs and Ghost Rider) are such lower-tier releases that it’s disconcerting. There aren’t any big-budget summer extravagant movies being pimped.

There are three scenarios I can think of that might explain why so few movies are being advertised this year.

1) The studios have seen the fruitlessness of TV advertising and are devoting their budgets toward more niche-targeted media buys.

I’ll give you a minute to stop laughing. All set? Let’s move on.

2) The movies that would usually have been promoted have already gotten a number of teaser trailers and there’s simply nothing new to add by creating a new TV spot. I don’t really see this as likely. Transformers, especially, could have benefited from another pass at a video spot. And there’s no reason why Dreamamount couldn’t have held off on that new TV spot for Shrek the Third until the Super Bowl. Spider-Man 3 would have been a good fit since, along with Pirates of the Caribbean 3, this would have provided a good outlet for their first actual TV advertisments.

3) The studios were waiting until the playoffs were done to see who was playing and base their planning on the demographics of the likely audience. Considering this year’s game features the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, the studios might have decided the game would have limited audience appeal outside the Midwest and that it wasn’t worth the $2.6 million per 30-second spot for a game that wouldn’t have much draw on either coast.

This strikes me as the most plausible scenario. The two Disney movies, a kids flick and a broad comedy about awkward middle-aged men driving through rural America, are probably what that studio thought would work the best among all us hayseed farm folk who live between the Hudson River and the San Andreas Fault. After all, no one in that stretch of the country has sophisticated taste, an urban sensibility or, for that matter, one of those new fangled horseless carriages. So just advertise your dumb comedy and your mindless kids flick. That’s fine.

Sony’s Ghost Rider is one I barely even count since it comes out in just a couple weeks. This isn’t a Super Bowl buy (it’s actually not even in the game but during the pre-game broadcast), it’s just part of the normal media plan for the flick. The Super Bowl audience is just a happy coincidence.

I’d be willing to wager that, had the New Orleans Saints made it to the game, we’d see a much different movie ad line-up. After all, the Saints making it to the Super Bowl would be a great story that the whole country would have tuned in to be part of.

Studios have the luxury of being more flexible with their buying for big events like this because, unlike other advertisers, there’s little additional production cost associated with a Super Bowl ad. Progressive Insurance had to create a new concept, sign Kevin Federline, shoot and edit the commercial and then buy the 30-second slot in order to get their ad on the air. That, just as an example, adds production costs that can be significant and in some instance equal the $2.6 million asking price for the airtime. A movie studio, though, is just taking footage from an already expensed production – that of the movie itself – and just editing it for TV. So they incur little additional expense, making it easier for them to sit on the sidelines and wait to swoop in and buy up ad inventory closer to game day.

So what do you think? Why did so few studios get into this year’s game? Leave your thoughts in the comments.