Super Bowl spotlight will include Apple, DraftKings, GM, Unilever and Diageo
By: Clark Schultz - SA EditorThe NFL Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs is expected to be the most watched event of the year. Advertisers this year are paying as much as $7M to get in front of the +100M somewhat captive viewers.
The list of advertisers is very light on crypto this year, but includes a doubleshot of alcoholic beverage companies. Molson Coors (TAP) and DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) are running a unique Super Bowl promotion that will see fans able to win money by predicting the details of the advertising for the Coors Light and Miller Lite brands during the game. Of note, the High Stakes Beer Ad's $500,000 prize pool is the largest for any free-to-play non-sport contest offered in DraftKings' (DKNG) history. Molson Coors (TAP) returns to the Super Bowl this year for the first time in 30 years due to Anheuser-Busch's (BUD) exclusivity contract running out. Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) will have a large presence at the Super Bowl this year even though the beer giant gave up its exclusivity deal that kept other alcohol brands on the sidelines. The beer giant landed three minutes of air time and will include advertising spots for the traditional Michelob Ultra and Bud Light brands, instead of Bud Light Seltzer or a craft brand. Of note, Busch Light will make its first appearance in Super Bowl ads since 2017 after experiencing double-digit growth for the past five years. Other alcohol companies stepping into the Super Bowl spotlight include Heineken N.V. (OTCQX:HEINY) with an ad for a nonalcoholic beer and Diageo (DEO) with the first Super Bowl spirits ad. Also in the mix, French company Rémy Cointreau (OTCPK:REMYF) has locked up a 60-second ad for its Rémy Martin cognac.
Other notable advertisers during the game will include travel site Booking.com (BKNG), online shopping site Rakuten, Dexcom (DXCM), Procter & Gamble's (PG) Downy, Unilever (UL) Hellman's, PepsiCo's (PEP) Popcorners and Pringles, DraftKings (DKNG), Uber (UBER), Workday (WDAY), and a unique combo spot between General Motors (GM) and Netflix (NFLX) to highlight their EV partnership. A notable change this year will be with the halftime show with Apple (AAPL) taking over for PepsiCo (PEP) as the main sponsor. The Cupertino tech giant will be aiming for exposure for its Apple Music product with Rihanna leading the halftime entertainment.
Naturally, the Super Bowl is forecast to set a record for legalized betting volume due to the new states with casino and mobile betting. The American Gaming Association expects 30M Americans plan to place a traditional wager online, at a retail sportsbook, or with a bookie, while another 28M plan to bet casually with friends or part of a pool or squares contest. Macquarie forecast $1.0B to $1.5B will be bet legally on the Super Bowl, which is not far off from a normal NFL regular season weekend tally. However, analyst Chad Benyon said the high volatility from just one game's outcome can be material to monthly/quarterly GGR figures for sports betting operators like DraftKings (DKNG), Barstool (PENN), Caesars Sportsbook (CZR), and BetMGM (MGM) (OTCPK:GMVHF).
