Fox Nears Sell Out for Super Bowl Ads (and It’s Only September)
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Super Bowl LVII won’t start until February 12 of next year. Even so, Fox, the network slated to broadcast the event, is close to scoring a major game touchdown. The network is nearly sold out of commercial inventory for the sports extravaganza, says Mark Evans, executive vide president of ad sales for Fox Sports, in an interview, with 95% of its Super Bowl ad inventory spoken for. The executive estimated Fox has five or fewer 30-second slots left to sell. Activity around the Super Bowl has “escalated significantly,” says Evans. Advertisers “are eager for sports, without question, but I also think the major marketers who are going to be in the game want to make sure they can secure the position they want.” So-called “A positions,” or the first ads in commercial breaks, “are very finite,” says Evans. “It’s a perishable commodity.”