I’m sure if you are any sort of sports fan, you would be aware that several weeks ago the 2024 Super Bowl LVIII (number 58) was played between the San Francisco 49’ers and Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas with the Chiefs winning 25-22 with only seconds remaining on the clock.
I’ve been an NFL fan for many years, ever since my daughter spent time in the US. When she returned home, she patiently explained the rules to me, which was enough to convert me. Unfortunately, being a New England Patriots fan, the last few years haven’t been kind to me and yes, Tom Brady is almost a God like figure! It’s not the physicality of the game that impresses me, but how tactics are used to win games and the way a game can change so quickly as the Chiefs Patrick Mahomes proved in the dying seconds of this year’s Super Bowl.
So now, each year I’m in front of a TV, to watch the American television feed of the game … hopefully with a Budweiser beer nearby. Some may think that’s sad, however I love it and I’m certainly not on my own as this year according to Nielsen Rating Systems, an estimated average audience of 123.4 million viewers watched the Super Bowl across all platforms, with 120.3 million viewers of that watching on CBS alone. This made it the largest audience for a single network telecast to date and overall, the second largest viewer audience ever recorded.
The largest television audience to date is nearly 600 million viewers world-wide who on July 20th, 1969, watched Neil Armstrong step foot on the moon. That’s an amazing number when you consider that not a celebrity was to be seen, there was no half time show and Taylor Swift’s mother had only just celebrated her 11th birthday!
So, what’s all this got to do with cars? The television ad spots within the Super Bowl broadcast are the most expensive available at more than US$7 million dollars for 30 seconds and that doesn’t include the ads production costs. Such are the quality of the commercials being produced, the ad spots are sometimes more entertaining than the game, and planning to go for a ‘pit stop’ becomes a carefully planned tactical manoeuvre.
Traditionally Budweiser Beer is there with a full-on movie production ad and car manufacturers are generally present, although this year not as much as in the past with only KIA, VW, BMW and Toyota buying spots. Sussanah Guthrie’s article on drive.com.au explains the reasoning for this and looks at the ads:
BMW’s 2024 Super Bowl ad would have cost a fortune – drive.com.au
You can see some of the other US commercials on this Mediocre Films link:
Top 10 Funniest Super Bowl Ads 2024 – MediocreFilms
As an aside and if you wonder why things are what they are, the reason Super Bowl ads are the epic cinematic productions that they are today goes back to this 1984 Super Bowl commercial that was directed by renowned film director Ridley Scott and only ever aired once, and that was during the game.
1984 Super Bowl Apple Macintosh ad by Ridley Scott – 4k Restoration
The story behind the making of the ‘1984’ Apple television commercial is fascinating and gives a great insight into the brilliance of the Apple founder Steve Jobs, especially as there are no products shown or mentioned during the ad. In the following link, the ad’s creative director Lee Clow tells how Steve Jobs defied the Apple board, and in doing so inadvertently changed Super Bowl television commercial spots for ever
The Real Story behind Apple’s Famous ‘1984’ Super Bowl Ad – Bloomberg Originals
