Super bowl advertising effectiveness: Hollywood finds the games golden

Super Bowl advertising receives considerable media attention each year, in part, because of the large TV audience the event attracts. Since 2000, advertisers have spent an average of over $2 million to run 30-second advertisements in these games. The question is often asked: "Are these ads worth it?" This study examines Super Bowl advertising effectiveness from the Hollywood movie industry's perspective. Results indicate that the average Super Bowl promoted film achieved twice as much first weekend, first week, and total U.S. box office revenue than its average non-Super Bowl promoted movie counterpart for the years 1998-2001. When all movies with production budgets of $35 million or more and U.S. release dates within 7 months of the 1998-2001 Super Bowls were considered, Super Bowl promoted movies grossed nearly 40 percent more than non-Super Bowl promoted movies. Conclusions are drawn and future research directions are outlined.