Super Spending Forecast for Sunday’s “Big Game”

Viewers and advertisers are going the extra yard in spending for this year’s Super Bowl matchup between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. Last year’s ultimate game scored a reported 111 million viewers. This year’s contest on Sunday, Feb. 5 could draw 173 million, according to a new survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Assocaition.

Consumer spending for the Super Bowl is projected  to reach an unprecedented $11 billion. The average viewer is expected to shell out about $64 on game-related merchandise, apparel and snacks. This is up from $59 last year. Food and beverages will make up the bulk of Super Bowl spending (71 percent), followed by team apparel or accessories (nearly 9 percent), and decorations (6 percent).

An estimated 5.1 million people will be watching the game on a new television, up from 4.5 million last year. Best Buy and Walmart and Amazon.com are among those hiking (or is that “hawking”) Super Bowl promotions on TVs and home theatre systems.

Over the years, as the marketing stakes have been raised, football can seem secondary to the real business at hand: the commercials. Nearly three-quarters of viewers (73 percent) view Super Bowl commercials not as intrusions, but as entertainment. To advertisers, of course, they are serious business. They are spending $3.5 million for a 30-second spot. Is it worth it?

Some analysts throw Super Bowl advertising for a loss. Researchers at Purdue interviewed 100 viewers after the 2010 Superbowl. Few could link Super Bowl ads with the products.

According to the RAMA survey, 17 percent say the commercials make them aware of the advertiser’s brand, while another 8 percent say the commercials influence them to buy specific products. This is the highest percentage reported in the survey’s history. Young people are most likely to be influenced by commercials. Fourteen percent of 18-24 year-olds said that commercials influence them to buy products. The influence lessens with age.

How will this year’s crop of ads score? Because of the expense of mounting a Super Bowl ad, advertisers are executing a full offensive drive that includes the Internet and social media. Coca-Cola, for example, has launched Cokepolarbowl.com, a Facebook page where the company’s iconic polar bears can be seen watching and reacting to the game.

Several of the year’s ads have generated significant buzz online, including a Honda ad featuring Matthrew Broderick in Ferris Bueller mode, dogs barking out the Star Wars theme on behalf of Volkswagon (a teaser that has already gotten over 10 million hits on YouTube), and Jerry Seinfeld vying to be the first to get an Acura NSX (the Soup Nazi makes a cameo). A little over a third of all the ads are going to be car ads.

But there will also be plenty of animals, babies, famous faces, Victoria Secret models and a stripped-down David Beckham to keep viewers tuned in during the time outs.