Categories: OLD Media Moves

Super Bowl ad business stories

There are some things about business journalism that nauseate me, especially certain stories that editors deem have to be written on an annual basis. Writing about Super Bowl advertising from a business perspective is one of those stories, and yes, I have had to write it before.

These stories seem like free advertising for the companies. I would bet that many companies buy Super Bowl advertising becuase of the media coverage that they know they will get in addition to the exposure to the 100 million viewers who will watch the game and not go to the bathroom during the commercial breaks.

What don’t I like about these stories? Let me count the ways:

1. They’re overall too positive and fawning about the companies. Rarely have I seen a reporter critically assess what a company is getting out of paying millions for a Super Bowl ad.

2. They’re rarely done in context. If a company is buying a Super Bowl ad, why? Does the demographic of their customers fit the average Super Bowl watcher? If not, why are they running the ad?

3. When was the last time you saw a Super Bowl ad story about a company where the reporter took the time to call up the company’s biggest competitor and ask them why they weren’t running an ad during the game as well? It’s interesting to get two different perspectives, I think. Let’s not just accept what the Super Bowl ad company is telling us as the gospel.

4. Unless the company is willing to share its analysis of what it expects to get in return, like the dollar amount of the exposure or the bump in sales, what does it matter if they’re advertising on the Super Bowl or on Survivor? Our business readers should expect more from us.

I realize that the Super Bowl is a big media spectacle, and that the adverting is part of that. I can even tell you my favorite Super Bowl ads of all time (Apple’s George Orwell “1984” ad from the early 1980s). But I think that many Super Bowl ad stories are just another example of the business journalism profession not using its skills to properly address this story in its right context. And that’s what got us in trouble covering the Internet industry in the 1990s.

My soap box rant for the week.

Recent Posts

PCWorld executive editor Ung dies at 58

PCWorld executive editor Gordon Mah Ung, a tireless journalist we once described as a founding father…

1 day ago

CNBC taps Sullivan as “Power Lunch” co-anchor

CNBC senior vice president Dan Colarusso sent out the following on Monday: Before this year comes to…

2 days ago

Business Insider hires Brooks as standards editor

Business Insider editor in chief Jamie Heller sent out the following on Monday: I'm excited to share…

2 days ago

Is this the end of CoinDesk as we know it?

Former CoinDesk editorial staffer Michael McSweeney writes about the recent happenings at the cryptocurrency news site, where…

3 days ago

LinkedIn finance editor Singh departs

Manas Pratap Singh, finance editor for LinkedIn News Europe, has left for a new opportunity…

4 days ago

Washington Post announces start of third newsroom

Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray sent out the following on Friday: Dear All, Over the last…

5 days ago