Super Bowl Kickoff

Linda Hardesty

The Super Bowl is advertising's biggest single event and companies are forking over bigger bucks than ever this year with the average 30-second spot commanding $2 million. That's up from last year's record of $1.6 million per spot.

This year's advertisers look noticeably different from past Super Bowl lineups, with dot.com companies comprising at least 20% of the advertisers. Pets.com, which sells pet supplies, and ETrade Group, an online brokerage, are among the dot.com companies that will join traditional advertisers such as Anheuser-Busch and Visa for the Jan. 30 telecast on ABC.

Another thing distinguishing this year's advertisements: a company that targets women has bought a Super Bowl ad. Oxygen Media, an Internet company that is launching a cable television network Feb. 2, has bought a 30-second spot, which will air in the second quarter of the big game.

"It's completely unexpected because the perception is it's a testosterone zone," said Tricia Melton, VP-consumer marketing, Oxygen Media. "And it's three days before we launch the cable network. All of those things added up to a very bold decision on our part to just do it."

Melton said the Super Bowl is actually a great place for Oxygen to reach its target demo because women make up about 45% of the audience. From past Super Bowl numbers that translates to about 35 million women.

Oxygen isn't saying how much it paid for its spot, but Melton said the company made the decision to buy the ad last summer.

Likewise, Computer.com, will spend $3 million on three spots. It hopes to target women, as well as seniors and the investment community.

Overall dot.coms are one of the fastest-growing categories on Madison Avenue. Competitive Media Reporting estimates that dot.coms will spend $1.2 billion in all categories in 1999, up from $279 million in 1997 and $546 million in 1998.

CABLE BREAKS SBC Chairman Ed Whitacre said the company has slowed its investment in Ameritech Corp.'s cable operations and will decide in the next 10 months what to with the business. Whitacre noted SBC's unsuccessful foray into cable in the Washington, D.C., area and he questioned the profit potential of overbuilds.

FOOTBALL PUNT With their recent acquisition of the second-half-of-the-year NASCAR package filling summer programming needs, Turner Sports and NBC have punted on their proposed football league, which the companies have been exploring since passing on the NFL in early 1998.