Hot List: All for a Game
“What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?” - Phil Connors, Groundhog Day
Here we are again, another Super Bowl week. Last year 156 million+ people watched at some point. That’s a lot of people gathered for 58 minutes of advertising smothered around 13 minutes of actual playing time.
Speaking of commercial minutes, it seems that Fox will be using their hosting slot to sneak in a pre-game interview with Trump.
Because why not inject politics into one of the few non-political events of the year?
But maybe it won’t matter.
According to a new survey from iSpot, 67% of viewers anticipate watching the game, while 15% are watching just for the ads. That extrapolates to tens of millions of folks looking forward to Affleck’s Dunkin’ jumpsuit, Kermit on a banjo and Bud Light’s roll out of Shane Gillis and Post Malone having a neighborhood BBQ. (If you can’t wait until Sunday, iSpot has all the ads here.)
Speaking of measurement, it’s been a hot topic over here at TVREV, with Tim Hanlon and Alan Wolk wading into the fray with hot takes that are stirring lots of commentary.
And while the once mighty monopolist (Nielsen) can try to play catch up on big data, it has a long way to go. But does it matter? Everyone believes the system has been rigged for a long time—not for best possible accuracy but for highest possible yields for agencies and networks. They love the bigger numbers and easy buttons.
Maybe that’s okay though, because brands now have their own systems for measuring ROI, ROAS and creative impact, and can now game the system of program-first measurement in much the same way.
In an ideal world everyone would be trading on the same version of the truth, but in the absence of that, all legs of the stool will need do their best to find the most solid ground.
And as long as that stool holds up something people can enjoy together, millions of Americans won’t really care if the system is just. They just want a good time, filled with wings, laughs and an easy button of their own.
Check out the full range of Super Bowl Insights at The Measure, from TVREV contributors John Cassillo and Eleanor Semeraro.
