Months before the Super Bowl unfolds on Feb. 5, ad space for this year's telecast was all sold out. According to The Wall Street Journal, the last 30-second slot was purchased by Thanksgiving, despite a record $3.5 million average price tag. And that's just the fee for air time — companies will pay untold millions more to produce their competitively "memorable" commercials. Here, a numerical look at how the skyrocketing costs break down — and why these pricey spots may not be such a bad deal after all:
$3.5 million
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Here We Are: Stephen Sondheim's 'utterly absorbing' final musicalThe Week Recommends The musical theatre legend's last work is 'witty, wry and suddenly wise'
-
The Trial: 'sharp' legal drama with a 'clever' scriptThe Week Recommends Channel 5's one-off show imagines a near future where parents face trial for their children's crimes
-
Riefenstahl: a 'gripping and incrementally nauseating' documentaryThe Week Recommends Andres Veiel's nuanced film examines whether the controversial film director was complicit in Nazi war crimes
