Americans may not agree on much in these seemingly polarized times, but there are at least two things the majority of us have in common: we like the NFL, and we like the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl is viewed as more than a game, it’s a cultural moment to enjoy the experience. According to Kantar Sports MONITOR, more than half of Americans watching the game plan to attend a party/gathering this year, a shift from the last two pandemic driven years. More than 52% of Americans say that NFL Football is their favorite sport to watch, including 63% of men and 42% women. In addition, more than three quarters of U.S. sports fans view the Super Bowl positively, more than any other major sporting event including the World Series and World Cup.
Indeed, the popularity of the NFL and the Super Bowl have remained consistently strong since we began measuring consumer attitudes toward them in 2020, making the Super Bowl about as steady of an institution as we have in the U.S. today. And as the NFL’s dominance over other sports leagues continues to expand and opportunities for shared cultural moments diminish, its importance is, if anything, growing.
Perhaps it’s not surprising then that the reported cost of a 30-second TV advertisement during the sold-out Super Bowl increased to $7 million this year, up from $6.5 million in 2022. But what exactly are brands getting by investing so much in a mere half-minute? Kantar Sports MONITOR finds it’s a lot more than just tens of millions of eyeballs.
Super Bowl fans are not just fans of the game; they are fans of the ads and bring a positive attitude to the brands advertising during the big game. Forty-eight percent of Americans say they expect to pay an equal amount of attention to the advertisements during the Super Bowl as the game itself. Moreover, a full 25% say they expect to pay more attention to the advertisements than the game, nearly equal in size to the 28% who say they will pay more attention to the game than ads. Overall, 66% of Americans report that they tend to enjoy Super Bowl commercials more than the typical TV ads they see.
Also worth noting, as Apple Music replaces long-time sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show, Pepsi, that 56% of Americans say the halftime show is one of their favorite parts of the game.
Watching the game and commercials is not the only thing fans will be focused on though. Kantar Sports MONITOR finds that more than a third of Super Bowl viewers will have some skin in the game so to speak, with 37% of people who expect to watch Super Bowl LVII reporting that they intend to gamble on the game as well, including 44% of men and 26% of women. The American Gaming Association estimates that more than 50 million Americans will wager a combined $16 billion on this year’s Super Bowl, approximately double that of last year’s game.
Source: Kantar U.S. MONITOR, fielded among 1,500 adults (18+) from 1/17 – 1/25 2023