With less than a month to go before Super Bowl 56, NBC Sports is making a killing.

NBCUniversal, which has the broadcast rights for the Feb. 13 game in Los Angeles, is cashing in this month as crypto and NFT brands jockey for remaining ad inventory. But the network had cleared ad-sales records long before the last-minute negotiations.

• In July, NBC told news outlets it had sold 85% of its available advertising inventory, and by Sept. 8, the network only had “a few units left,” Dan Lovinger, NBC Sports Group’s EVP of advertising sales, said at the time. (Lovinger confirmed then that the broadcaster would intentionally hold a few ad spots back.)
• Plus, sold ad slots have commanded as much as $6.5 million per 30-second spot—nearly $1 million more than last year’s high of $5.6 million.

Make it make sense: The continued demand seems to defy logic when looking at the Super Bowl’s shrinking audiences. Game viewership has dwindled since 2015, when a record 114.4 million people tuned in. Last year’s matchup brought in 96.4 million viewers, making it the least-watched Super Bowl since 2007.

So what gives? A few reasons point to why NBCU is cashing in on the game this year, one of which is that the Super Bowl still brings in a massive number of eyeballs compared to the rest of TV.

Less is more

The Super Bowl is an extremely valuable commodity. Even though viewership has decreased, its decline is far less dramatic than that of other live broadcasts—like awards shows—making the game one of the few places left where marketers can expect huge viewership on TV.

“As viewership goes down on those different shows and people are less interested in [them], as a lot of it goes virtual, you’re losing out on some of those bigger marquee moments throughout the year,” said Kelsey Chickering, a principal analyst at Forrester.

But there are a few other reasons why Super Bowl ads were in high demand this year, which you can read about here.—KS

One of the biggest acquisitions in video-game history is upon us. (And no, it’s not that you finally got your hands on a PS5.)

Take-Two Interactive, the company that publishes games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, said this week it will buy video-game developer Zynga in a mega-deal valued at $11+ billion.

If it goes through, the acquisition will combine Take-Two games with Zynga’s mobile-first portfolio, which includes games like Words with Friends and FarmVille.

Screen shift: There’s lots of money to be made on mobile screens. Consumer spending on mobile gaming grew to an estimated $116 billion industry in 2021, according to data from the app analytics firm App Annie, up from $74 billion in 2018.

Take-Two is bracing for a shifting tide. More than half of its net bookings—meaning its net physical and digital sales—will make up mobile gaming in 2023, Take-Two projected in a company filing, compared to the estimated 12% of mobile gaming net bookings expected this year.

All about the ads: Companies can make a killing from in-game purchases, but there’s tons of money in mobile advertising. Total mobile advertising spend topped $295 billion in 2021, according to App Annie, even despite some consternation in the industry following a privacy change from Apple that made hyper-targeting harder. By this year, according to App Annie, total ad spend on mobile is estimated to surpass a whopping $350 billion.—KS

The Influencer Marketing Factory (IMF)—an influencer marketing agency—wrote a mammoth report on what social commerce might look like in 2022. IMF co-founder and CEO Alessandro Bogliari told Marketing Brew it’s 91 pages long, with 30 quotes by social-commerce experts and a survey of a thousand US social media users.

Lucky for you, we summarized some of the most important findings below.

In 2020: The number of people in the US smashing that Add to Cart button via social media was 80.1 million. In 2022, that number is expected to increase to 96 million , according to eMarketer research cited in the report.

All the cool kids are doing it: 82% of the people surveyed said they had, in fact, discovered a product on social media and purchased it directly from their phones.

Lights, camera, action: 57% of those surveyed had previously purchased something during a live-stream shopping event.

Day by day: 24% said they shop on social media more than once a week, with 29% saying once a week.

So what’s next? “Social media is no longer a place to advertise, and advertise only…social platforms need to provide a rich and engaging experience to entice the audience to shop in the first place,” Chloe Cox, a social strategy and insight consultant for Wunderman Thompson Commerce, wrote in the report.—PB

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren'’ those.

TikTok on the clock: The app shares tips on collaborating with creators.

This one’s for the boys: Pinterest published insights on how men are planning to spend in 2022.

Major key: Up your keyword game with help from this SEO guide.

Pregame: Get the scoop on how marketers are preparing for this year’s Super Bowl in Marketing Brew’s latest hub, sponsored by impact.com. Check it out here.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Edelman to fossil-fuel clients: you’re safe here
• Ad tech bounced back in 2021, and 2022 could be even brighter
• Streaming platforms and service providers are teaming up to woo subscribers

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Keep scrolling for the answer.