Disney‘s run to its first Super Bowl touchdown in 20 years is in danger of being stymied by some serious defense.
The company has told advertisers it believes they should pay $10 million for a 30-second ad in the company’s 2027 telecast of Super Bowl LXI, according to four people with knowledge of recent negotiations, but the high price tag has some marketers sitting on the sidelines. In recent years, Super Bowl broadcasters like Fox and NBC have managed to sell 40% to 60% of their Big Game ad schedule sometime before the industry’s annual “upfront” sales season kicks off in May, but Disney’s Super Bowl sales effort has not made similar progress, these people say.
“The original ask was $10 million,” says one of these people, but “there is a big delta from where they started to where advertisers want to be.” Disney also sought a $10 million match of funds that would be spent elsewhere in its media portfolio, these people say — a practice that has become common among Super Bowl networks from year to year.
Disney is in “active conversations and negotiations across the market,” says a person familiar with the matter, and has “more requests than inventory to sell.” The key, of course, is to turn registrations for inventory to actual orders. Many of the company’s discussions, this person says, also involve broader packages of its overall media portfolio, and a range of sports inventory that includes such things as MLB.TV and “Monday Night Football.” Such discussions are more complex than those for a single piece of advertising.
Super Bowl ad prices have increased rapidly in recent years, but Madison Avenue may be having a moment where it asks the question: “How much more can we pay?”
Disney’s plans for the Super Bowl are ambitious. The company’s rights deal with the NFL calls for the game to be telecast on both ABC and ESPN, with a separate “alterna-cast” led by Peyton and Eli Manning to appear on ESPN2. The telecast will take place on February 14, Valentine’s Day, and the Monday after is a federal holiday, President’s Day. “What an opportunity for us,” Andy Tennant, a veteran ESPN producer who was named vice present of Super Bowl production in January of last year, told Variety in February. “We see the Super Bowl as an opportunity to bring everyone together, to celebrate the biggest single game on the planet.”
Meanwhile, there are lots of conversations going on about tapping various parts of the Disney media empire to woo other audiences who might not ordinally tune in the football spectacle.
Advertisers have proven willing to fork over big sums for Super Bowls in the past few years. There are few properties in the streaming era that lure giant crowds, all watching at the same time, and blue-chip marketers including Anheuser-Busch, Toyota, Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo are among those often landing on the event’s ad roster. In 2016, Super Bowl ads sold for around $5 million — at the time considered to be a whopping sum. The numbers have only climbed higher. And yet, the networks carrying the gridiron classic have moved with caution, making initial asks of around $7 million for the past few years, rather than seeking the highest potential price.
Super Bowl broadcasters tend to start negotiations first with so-called “incumbents” — marketers who held positions in the NFL extravaganza the last time the network aired it or in the prior year. Some of these sponsors hold multi-year deals to advertise in the Super Bowl and commit to buy several units. These advertisers expect to pay better rates because of the sheer volume of ad money they spend. Later on in the process, networks often deal with smaller companies seeking a Super Bowl berth for the first time, and these less experienced clients often lack the longer relationships with media outlets that would help keep prices down.
Disney may have reason for optimism. Before NBC wrapped sales tied to this year’s telecast of Super Bowl LX, the company’s top sales executive, Mark Marshall, revealed the company had sold a “handful” of spots for more than $10 million. The trouble? NBC started its process by asking for around $7 million for 30 seconds of ad time, and the price was so attractive that it sparked robust demand. By the time NBC neared the end of its sales window, it had too much interest in too little supply, which squeezed prices into record territory. In reality, the bulk of the company’s Super Bowl ad inventory sold for $7 million to $8 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
Disney could risk entering the general “upfront” market with Super Bowl inventory usually sold still in question. Some of the money advertisers held for the Super Bowl could be spent on other properties, some of the people familiar with negotiations say, if Disney can’t come to terms with potential advertisers.
The entertainment giant needs to tread carefully on this playing field. Super Bowl LXI is the linchpin of a massive schedule of live events that Disney has been touting to advertisers for months. Over the course of eight weeks in early 2027, Disney’s TV and streaming properties will feature the College Football Playoffs, the Oscars, the Grammys — all in addition to Super Bowl LXI.
One of the challenges Disney faces, say the four people with knowledge of the matter, is that it lacks a Super Bowl sales expert, someone who has managed sales for the Big Game for multiple years. The last time ABC telecast a Super Bowl, the price sought for 30-second ad was a paltry (by modern standards) $2.5 million. Since that time, some networks have managed to add to commercial inventory by negotiating with the NFL for so-called “floating” ad breaks; finding ways to sell ads that run only if the game goes into overtime; and linking to network elements like the pre-game show or the sportscasters themselves.
To be sure, at some point in the sales process, advertisers might consider $10 million a bargain. But they aren’t there yet.
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