The Super Bowl is fast approaching and it’s considered one of the premier advertising events of the year. But getting a spot during the big game on traditional broadcast television has become unattainable for most businesses. According to Adweek, NBC is charging about $6.5 million dollars per 30-second commercial, which is about a million dollars more than what CBS charged last year. And on top of the high costs, almost all of the Super Bowl spots were sold out by September.
MILLIONS is providing an alternative that allows businesses to cash in on one of the year’s biggest events at a fraction of the cost. Sponsored Watch Parties featuring high profile athletes as the hosts are an incredible opportunity for advertisers to speak directly to the same Super Bowl audience. These can be hyper-targeted to the hard to reach demographic of 16-35 year-olds, or older generations with a level of engagement unmatched by traditional media. The Sports Technology Annual Review and Industry Power List says these types of events are primed for growth.
It says, “social media and big tech have steadily provided users with an alternative type of storytelling, where community and interactivity have become essential elements for many broadcast experiences. Fans like to share drama and emotion with friends and family, so are responding well to online watch parties, exclusive virtual rooms and event-wide text chats around specific productions.”
If fans like sharing the excitement of the Super Bowl with friends and family, just imagine how they’ll feel sharing it with one of their favorite athletes. The technology hasn’t been getting the kind of attention it deserves, and fans are catching on quicker than advertisers. Jeanine Poggi is an editor with Ad Age who is leading the platform’s Super Bowl coverage. She tells MILLIONS online watch parties are going to be a big part of the game this year.
“We will certainly see a surge in live streams and watch parties tied to the game. Expect to see some brands turn the Super Bowl into a shopping holiday, tying influencers and athletes to livestream shopping events tied to the big game,” says Poggi.
MILLIONS has all types of athletes on its platform hosting watch parties, including thousands of former NFL players, who have enormous followings and can guarantee hundreds of thousands of impressions. A watch party can vary in cost depending on the athlete, their influence and following, but even the most expensive packages are still far cheaper than a traditional television ad during the Super Bowl.
For $1M, a fraction of what one 30-second spot costs, a brand could sponsor over 350 watch parties and get over 550 branded hours of engaged Super Bowl audiences, plus athlete script reads, social media mentions, guaranteed impressions, and all of the derivative video assets for their own marketing use. Way more than just 30 seconds of content and eyeball time that viewers could ignore. A watch party is like a television commercial, an influencer campaign, a social media campaign, and an event sponsorship all rolled into one neat package. And when the event is over, the brand receives digital assets and an email list of attendees that can be used for future advertising campaigns.
MILLIONS packages start as low as $27,500 for WatchParty advertising and even that provides advertisers with 10+ different watch parties. MILLIONS Chief Marketing Officer, Brandon Austin, says WatchParties democratize sports advertising so that businesses big and small can play ball, “we will always have room for the big budget advertisers, but we also want to make sure small businesses have an opportunity to grow their brands and enjoy the spoils of big league sporting events.”
“MILLIONS is becoming one of the top sports marketing media offerings in the world” says MILLIONS CEO Matt Whitteker, and with the guaranteed impressions and immense offering to advertisers for a low budget, it’s no surprise why.
Contact MILLIONS if you’re interested in advertising and sponsoring a MILLIONS Watch Party.