Commercials
As usual, the American television broadcast of the Super Bowl showcased top commercials and commanded high prices, estimated at $2.6 million (US) for a 30-second spot. According to Advertising Age, Anheuser-Busch was the top advertiser during the game, having purchased 10 30-second spots. The magazine reported that other companies having purchased multiple commercial segments included Ameriquest (two), CareerBuilder.com (two), Pepsi-Cola (four), Pizza Hut (ten, though most ran prior to kickoff), Sprint (three), Procter & Gamble (four, three for Gillette's new Fusion razor), Warner Bros. (three), Disney (two) and GoDaddy.com (two). Three companies aired 60-second advertisements: General Motors (for the Cadillac brand), Burger King, and Mobile ESPN (the Sports Heaven ad). Agency BBDO was the biggest single producer of commercials, creating 19. ABC also aired several 60-second commercials for some of its shows, including Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Grey's Anatomy. Notably, this was the first Super Bowl during which commercials, in addition to the game itself, were broadcast in HDTV. During typical HDTV broadcasts at the time, commercials themselves were broadcast in standard definition.
Google Video and America Online each catalogued ads for later viewing. The USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter and ADBOWL, which both measure viewer online reaction to all Super Bowl ads, found the Bud Light “Magic refrigerator” spot ranked as the top spot.
Read more about this topic: Super Bowl XL