NEW YORK—The TV business has long looked to the Super Bowl as a tent-pole sales event that can rival Black Friday. And according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), this year’s Patriots-Eagles game won’t disappoint.
The trade group’s annual Super Bowl survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, shows that 8 percent of American adults plan to buy a new TV for the Feb. 4 contest, unchanged from last year.
Explained Phil Rist, Prosper’s strategy executive VP, “Consumers are carrying strong spending momentum from the holiday season into their Super Bowl festivities. Fans aren’t afraid to spend a few extra dollars to make this year’s game the best one yet.”
A separate survey by online services firm InstartLogic also bodes well for Super Bowl LII advertisers, which will include a considerable contingent of tech companies. According to its poll of more than 1,000 adults, nearly half (46.7 percent) rank watching the ads as the most important online activity during the game, while a whopping 87.2 percent admit to being affected by Super Bowl commercials.
A running ad tracker by Adweek points to at least five Big Game advertisers with their hands in the CE sauce, including Monster, Verizon, Groupon, Squarespace and Hulu. Here’s a quick Adweek rundown:
· Fresh from CES, Monster spokestar Iggy Azalea will appear in the company’s first ever Super Bowl spot.
· Verizon Wireless, which finds itself in the uncomfortable position of defending its No. 1 status from T-Mobile, will make its first Super Bowl appearance since 2011, when it touted the recently released iPhone 4.
· Groupon, ranked 28 on the TWICE Top 100 CE Retailers Report, will air a 30-second, fourth-quarter spot with comedienne Tiffany Haddish, the merchant’s new celebrity spokesperson.
· Web-hosting service Squarespace will follow up last year’s Emmy Award-winning spot featuring actor John Malkovich with a camp-side cameo by Keanu Reeves.
· Hulu is back for a second year but is keeping its Super Bowl plans under wraps.
This story first appeared on TV Technology's sister publication TWICE.
