NAFTA....and sport

Super Bowl clobbers the Grey Cup
MARINA STRAUSS
Globe and Mail

Among Canadian football fans, broadcasts of the Super Bowl have gained a slight lead over the Grey Cup in popularity, but among advertisers the American gridiron extravaganza is the champion, hands down.
Both games are among the biggest television draws in the country, and the Super Bowl has just begun to overtake the Canadian Football League championship in the ratings.
When it comes to commercials, however, it's another story. Advertisers are paying about 70 per cent more for a 30-second spot on CTV's Super Bowl telecast next Sunday – about $110,000 (not including discounts) – than what they shelled out for a commercial on CBC's Grey Cup show in November, according to media buyers.
The difference is that the ads are part of the show on the Super Bowl. But many of the ads shown on American television don't reach the audience in Canada.
“If you are an outsider who doesn't understand our business … it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever,” said Dennis Dinga, a vice-president with M2 Universal, which buys media space for advertisers.
“But if you factor in water cooler talk, how many people talk about the Super Bowl … I can't tell you how many meetings we sit in after the fact and look at Super Bowl commercials both in the U.S. and Canada. We rarely do that with any other event.”
Super Bowl advertising is all about the buzz. Media analysts call it the prestige factor and the appeal of being part of an event in which the ads are part of the show.
They also note that CTV, which won the rights to the Super Bowl in Canada last spring after it was shown for 25 years on Global, paid a hefty price and needs to recoup those costs.
Even so, Canadians don't get to see the flashiest ads that Americans view on the U.S. broadcast of the Super Bowl. South of the border, advertisers sometimes blow their budget on a Super Bowl spot, using it as a showcase for their products. Consequently, the ads become the focus of YouTube and dinner party chatter. Canadians only get to hear about those ads later.
But advertisers are still willing to fork over big money in Canada. “You're buying it for the prestige,” said Sylvia Criger, managing director at Media Buying Services. “You're buying it for the half time show, for people talking about it: ‘Did you see yada yada.' ” The Super Bowl attracts more of an upscale viewer – “more from Bay Street” – and more women, she added. As a result, car companies, for example, are more apt to tout higher end models on the broadcast.
Even without the much-hyped ads on the U.S. broadcast, Canadian advertisers are generally reaching their desired adult audience, said Florence Ng, a vice-president at media buyer ZenithOptimedia.
Among the all-important 25-to-54 year old demographic, the Super Bowl drew 55 per cent more viewers than the Grey Cup last year, she said. The American game's ratings were higher in Toronto and Vancouver, but lower in Calgary, where the Grey Cup has a bigger following.
And the Grey Cup remains a big draw. Up until 2005, it attracted bigger audiences than the Super Bowl, according to figures from Global and CBC. The public broadcaster had the rights to air the Grey Cup until it was snatched away by CTV's TSN last year.
Rita Fabian, executive vice-president of sales and marketing at CTV, said Super Bowl ads are almost sold out and the telecast is expected to attract more than four million viewers. Last year, it drew about 3.7 million, according to Global. (However, there are discrepancies in the figures, depending on the source, age group targeted and whether other programming is included.)