Advertisers Extend Super Bowl Buys Online

Big spending advertisers plunk down millions for seconds of air time during the Super Bowl, and many are looking to extend their campaigns online via the big game’s official online presence, Superbowl.com.

Sponsorship deals dominate Superbowl.com this year, with Pepsi making a large play and Cadillac and Sprint also scoring large presences. All three are sponsors of the broadcast event, as well. But there’s also room for advertisers without TV spots.

“I think there’s a little bit of both. For the most part you’re going to see a lot of the same advertisers spending money on the Super Bowl and Superbowl.com,” said CBS SportsLine.com’s VP of Sales, Ken Lagana. “A lot of those advertisers are partners, like Burger King, Pepsi and Sprint.” Superbowl.com is run by CBS SportsLine.

Pepsi sponsors the overall site with its Diet Pepsi logo appearing on each page. Sprint owns the fantasy football component on Superbowl.com, as it does on companion site NFL.com.

Cadillac’s role on the site is to make available what it hopes will be a great benefit to visitors. The auto manufacturer is sponsoring NFL video archives dating back 40 years, previously only available behind a pay wall. The Cadillac video sponsorship is the first effort of its kind for Superbowl.com.

“We’re going to be doing billboard pre-rolls before the video,” said Lagana. “Cadillac is doing a Super Bowl all-time MVP vote, tied into its MVP balloting for the NFL.”

Advertisers looking to get away with risky content that won’t fly on TV need not apply. “We have to work very closely with the NFL on all our creative,” said Lagana. “A lot of guidelines the NFL is asking [advertisers follow] from a network perspective, they’re also asking from a digital perspective.”

While other portals are offering advertising related to their Super Bowl-related content, Superbowl.com is benefiting from being the NFL-sanctioned media site. An early estimate from Lagana puts ad revenues up more than 40 percent over last year.

“I think it provides access to the Super Bowl from a digital perspective,” Lagana said. “It’s another way to spend your money against the biggest initiative and one of the biggest games of the year.”