The Super Bowl is a yearly reminder of why it is good to be in the advertising industry. Pigskin brings together a massive union of audience and advertisers on television screens across the globe. Audience at scale engaged in the same content, at the same time makes for a prime target for Americas largest brands. This year television attendance was up with 106.5 million total viewers tuning in to the game. This is a 7.9 percent increase from last year which dethroned M*A*S*H’s final episode for the total viewers record set in 1983.

Eyeballs brought the ad dollars out in force for 2010. The going rate for a 30 second television spot was up to $3.01 million. This bodes well for network television revenue as this years Super Bowl boasted the most ad time in history at 47 minutes and 50 seconds meaning just short of $290 million in ad revenue.

Advertisers spend money for reach, conversions, and ROI. ROI is measured by purchases and brand awareness generated from their ad spend. As the line continues to blur between traditional and new media it is interesting to look at the ROI generated from web activity following the SuperBowl and additional value generated. Television advertisers spent $.03 for each unique viewer exposed to their advertising spot. A sampling of the Youtube Ad Blitz, a channel dedicated to hosting ads aired at the SuperBowl shows Godaddy, Denny’s, Doritos, and Alice in Wonderland garnered an additional 2.9 million unique views of their TV spot in the two weeks following the SuperBowl. That is a 3% value add, $8 million in total advertising spend from a medium which has only been in existence since 2005. Another success story is HomeAway.com whose reach according to Alexa jumped from .02 to .08 immediately following the SuperBowl. If the US internet population is indeed 227 million people, a .06% increase in reach means an additional 13.62 million uniques visited their site immediately following their Superbowl TV spot. Both perfect examples of how Television plus online was the play of the game in 2010.

Only 352 days for brands to refine their playbooks for BrandBowl 2011. My money is on the Chargers to win on the grid iron, and brands who continue to take advantage of the television plus web one two punch to go all the way.