The National Football League has made headlines in recent months for going back to its broadcast partners with staggering demands for future rights to games. This seems to be influencing what it would cost to run a 30-second ad in Super Bowl LXI.
According to Brian Steinberg of Variety.com, Disney has informed advertisers that they must pay $10 million for a 30-second ad block during next year's Super Bowl LXI. However, advertisers are reportedly putting pressure on the price.
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Worth noting is that Disney doesn't seem to be as effective as Fox and NBC at selling Super Bowl ad spots this time of year, according to Steinberg. Previously, other networks had sold 40 to 60 percent of their 30-second spots by May before the Super Bowl; Disney has reportedly "not made the same progress" in said efforts.
All this comes as Disney joins Fox, NBC and CBS in negotiating new TV rights contracts with the NFL due to increased interest from Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Google's YouTube. The talks between the two sides have not been good.
CNBC's Alexander Sherman previously reported that networks are "more comfortable" paying a rights fee increase of about 25 percent over the current deal. However, the NFL is working hard for a 100 percent increase.
As all this is going on, the Justice Department has begun investigating the NFL and whether it is using "anti-competitive tactics" to harm consumers and make games less accessible and affordable to watch.
It certainly seems like advertisers are taking the same approach in negotiations with Disney as the company is in contract negotiations with the NFL. If history is any guide, deals will be made with costs passed on to consumers.
