• by Wayne Friedman , January 11, 2016

With commercials priced at almost the $5 million mark for a 30-second commercial, the big sport event on CBS on February 7 could hit more new record levels for advertising revenue, according to media buyers.

Kantar Media says the 2015 game witnessed total revenue for the event at $345.4 million, with a 30-second commercial scoring an average of $4.4 million. The media research company says there were 82 commercial messages in 2015 totaling 48 minutes and five seconds of advertising time.

That's down from the two previous years (49:15 in 2014) and (51:40 in 2013). Although the trend is for shorter commercials in overall network prime-time programming, Kantar Media says advertisers opt to spend even more by running longer-length commercials -- all this to deepen a story line for engaged viewers.

In the past two games, 37% (2015) and 40% (2014) of brand ads were 60 seconds or longer, the highest shares since at least 1984. (This doesn’t include network promotion ads.)

Kantar says by comparison, the normal proportion of long-form ads on broadcast networks is about 6%.

For the last 10 years, Anheuser-Busch has been the dominant marketer in the game, spending $278.3 million. Pepsico is next $172 million, followed by Coca-Cola at $118.4 million; Chrysler Group with $89.5 million; and General Motors at $86.8 million.

Overall, Super Bowl ad pricing has grown 76% in 10 years, generating $2.38 billion in total network ad sales. Kantar Media says: “The Super Bowl is TV’s most expensive air time; expect even higher rates, lots of ads and longer spots in 2016.”