Disney Super Bowl ad slots fetching $9M per, short of $10M asks

Early indications suggest Disney’s lofty Super Bowl advertising expectations might have hit a speed bump.

The company has reportedly sold more than 10 30-second Super Bowl commercials for around $9 million a piece, per Brian Steinberg in Variety. At $9 million per, the price falls about a million short of Disney’s initial ambitions to attract sponsors willing to pay $10 million for a Super Bowl ad, but still surpasses the rates commanded from NBC earlier this year, which clocked in around $8 million for a 30-second spot.

Disney was seeking advertisers willing to commit a $10 million “match” to go along with any Super Bowl ad. These arrangements are common when buying Super Bowl commercials — networks will ask for a certain additional advertising commitment across other properties. But at a total price of $20 million between the 30-second Super Bowl spot and the additional commitments, advertisers were not interested.

“Nobody was really jumping at that $10 million ask, or the ‘match,'” one media buying executive told Variety, adding that Disney’s expectations were “unrealistic.”

That said, $9 million for a Super Bowl spot would still be a record pace, should Disney be able to maintain it. Variety reports that much of the inventory Disney has sold thus far has been to nontraditional buyers that aren’t represented by one of the major media-buying agencies. Traditional blue-chip advertisers appear to be holding out, at least for now.

The setup for this year’s Super Bowl ad buying is a bit different than typical. Most networks first make early offers to incumbents; companies that have purchased Super Bowl ads from the network in the past, typically at more favorable rates. Disney has not aired a Super Bowl since 2006, so there are no incumbents to speak of. That means there’s more inventory being taken to market than normal.

For instance, Fox and NBC — the two previous Super Bowl broadcasters — had sold about half of their Super Bowl inventory ahead of the annual Upfront season in May, when networks woo advertisers with presentations about upcoming programming. Disney’s progress “has been slower than recent norms,” Variety reports.

That doesn’t mean Disney will struggle to sell inventory at a premium price. The market just might look different than past years. Typically, the earlier you buy a Super Bowl ad, the better the rate you will get. Last season, NBC began selling 30-second spots for $7 million, but sold a handful for more than $10 million in the lead-up to the game. This year, it seems some buyers might be holding out for a better deal, or at least deals that don’t come with as many strings attached.

“Ad buyers say they think there has been some success in tamping down the amount Disney wants for its ‘match,’ but suspect the company still wants to stay close to its initial pricing,” Steinberg writes.

It seems like ad buyers are shaping up for a bit of a different experience with Disney selling this year’s Super Bowl. For now, it’s too early to say whether it will work out in the company’s favor.