NBC Super Bowl ad sales slowed slightly

The Super Bowl ad sales machine appears to have slowed a bit.

The overall ad sales environment is pinched, and NBC is asking a record $4.5 million for 30-second Super Bowl ad slots. The network says it has at least 10 30-second slots left to sell. That leaves the ad time about 90% sold, and NBC says it expects to sell some of it up to a week before the broadcast Feb. 1.

"We are not impervious to general market trends," says Seth Winter, executive vice president of sales and marketing at NBC Sports Group and NBCUniversal News Group. "Companies want to be able to respond to unique marketing conditions, so some are waiting until the last minute to commit to something of this magnitude."

The Super Bowl remains the kingpin of broadcast advertising. No other TV ad time costs more, reaches more viewers or can equal its powerful links to social media and pop culture. But slots run at $4.5 million — about $500,000 more than for the last Big Game on Fox — and there seems to be at least some reluctance among major advertisers to pony up.

"Generally, the Super Bowl is indicative of the overall marketplace," Winter says. "We all understand the market this fourth quarter is slower and less healthy for broadcast and cable TV."

He says the network is very firm on its $4.5 million price tag for advertisers purchasing a single slot and $4.4 million for advertisers buying more than one 30-second unit. "Some advertisers have undergone restructuring or cutbacks and are concerned about making the investments the Super Bowl requires," he says.

Super Bowl ad sales were not hurt to any large degree, Winter says, by the National Football League image issues from players involved in very public domestic violence incidents. He says just one advertiser privately mentioned that as a reason for not returning.

The slower sales may explain why there are so many newer advertisers — about 10 to 12 who have purchased 15 slots, Winter says. He declined to name any of them, but he describes many as "digital businesses." Two rookie Super Bowl advertisers have publicly announced: Mofie, the battery-phone casemaker, and Loctite, the gluemaker.)

There will be fewer automobile advertisers, which may be because there are fewer major auto launches timed around the 2015 contest, Winter says. "If they're not launching, they may not feel compelled to be there," he says.

Also fewer this year, he says: "technology hardware" and "healthier snacks."

What you will see, he says, are ads for movies, beer, soft drinks, fast food and insurance.

Winter says the majority of ads will be 30 seconds, but viewers can expect some 60-second ads.