Superbowl Tech Commercials

The Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States, is known for the high-profile advertisements that are aired during its television broadcast. Because the Super Bowl is a very highly rated program, prices for advertising space can cost millions of dollars. In 2007, 30 seconds of advertising time cost US$2.6 million due to the extremely large audience, typically more than 90 million viewers. Conversely, the high price tag of the commercials all but promises that they will be spectacular and innovative in most cases. The commercials are often highly anticipated, generating much buzz even before the game is played.

During the dot com boom (1995-2001) millions of dollars of venture capital was spent on Super Bowl commercials by tech companies and dot com start ups. At the height of the boom Super Bowl XXXIV in January 2000 featured seventeen dot-com companies that each paid over two million dollars for a thirty-second spot.

By contrast, in January 2001, just 3 dot-coms bought advertising spots during Super Bowl XXXV. In a similar vein, CBS-backed iWon.com gave away ten million dollars to a lucky contestant on an April 15, 2000, half-hour primetime special that was broadcast on CBS.