Super Bowl ads pay off, professors' study finds
Analysis reveals increase in sales for companies advertising during game
Scott Hansen
Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Campus News
On Super Bowl Sunday, some people were ready for some football. However, others were ready for some ads, including UW-Eau Claire marketing professors Chuck Tomkovick and Rama Yelkur.
The professors began conducting their annual research on advertising, which Yelkur said takes place during one of the biggest media events in the United States, from the Friday before the Super Bowl until the Friday after. Yelkur said the research looks at the companies who advertise in the Super Bowl and their stock price performance over that period of time.
"We started asking, 'why are the ads likeable and are (the advertisers) getting a return on their investment with the cost for ads being so high,'" Yelkur said.
With the people buying ads, media companies, marketers and network television programming people all curious about the return on investment, Tomkovick and Yelkur decided to see what they could find to answer the question in terms of actual data. But with a lot of the ad financial data unavailable for accesse by the general public, Yelkur said they decided to look at stock price performance as an indicator on the return of investment.
Along with other students who collaborate with them on the study, the professors took a look at the extent to which the stock price performance of firms that run ads during the Super Bowl compares to the general stock market performance, Tomkovick said.
"Historically, since the study began in 1996, the firms that run Super Bowl ads tend to see a 1.2 to 1.3 percent differential in their stock performance than those of firms that do not run Super Bowl ads," Tomkovick said.
Although the number looks small, Tomkovick pointed out it actually translates to a difference of potentially billions of dollars, with Yelkur adding the difference would be huge if the two week performance continued over an entire year.
"(The Super Bowl) has a lot of power and influence over its audience," Yelkur said. "It is watched in groups by so many people, and in some cases just for the commercials … for companies it's a time and location to launch new products and make people aware of what's going on … it's just a very influential vehicle and it won't stop."
The professors began conducting their annual research on advertising, which Yelkur said takes place during one of the biggest media events in the United States, from the Friday before the Super Bowl until the Friday after. Yelkur said the research looks at the companies who advertise in the Super Bowl and their stock price performance over that period of time.
"We started asking, 'why are the ads likeable and are (the advertisers) getting a return on their investment with the cost for ads being so high,'" Yelkur said.
With the people buying ads, media companies, marketers and network television programming people all curious about the return on investment, Tomkovick and Yelkur decided to see what they could find to answer the question in terms of actual data. But with a lot of the ad financial data unavailable for accesse by the general public, Yelkur said they decided to look at stock price performance as an indicator on the return of investment.
Along with other students who collaborate with them on the study, the professors took a look at the extent to which the stock price performance of firms that run ads during the Super Bowl compares to the general stock market performance, Tomkovick said.
"Historically, since the study began in 1996, the firms that run Super Bowl ads tend to see a 1.2 to 1.3 percent differential in their stock performance than those of firms that do not run Super Bowl ads," Tomkovick said.
Although the number looks small, Tomkovick pointed out it actually translates to a difference of potentially billions of dollars, with Yelkur adding the difference would be huge if the two week performance continued over an entire year.
"(The Super Bowl) has a lot of power and influence over its audience," Yelkur said. "It is watched in groups by so many people, and in some cases just for the commercials … for companies it's a time and location to launch new products and make people aware of what's going on … it's just a very influential vehicle and it won't stop."
Be the first to comment on this story