The Super Bowl Goes Multiscreen: Ads Stream to Internet Viewers

As it did last year, CBS Sports will make the live stream of Sunday's Super Bowl freely available to all viewers, with no TV Everywhere authentication required. But there's something new this time around: The famous Super Bowl ads will stream, as well.

Besides the network broadcast, people will be able to view the game through Xbox One, Apple TV, Android TV, and Roku apps. Mobile streaming is limited to Verizon Wireless subscribers using the NFL Mobile app.

Research from the Adobe Digital Index (ADI) says this year's Super Bowl will mark a crucial event for advertisers. Over a third of people will watch the game on something other than a traditional TV set, it notes, citing its January survey of 400 U.S. adults who had watched a live sports event in the last year. ADI found that 49 percent of millennials would watch the game on a connected TV, laptop, phone, desktop, gaming console, or tablet. Of those options, connected TV was the most common, with 20 percent saying they would watch on a connected TV. However, the survey didn't ask if connected TV owners would stream the game or simply watch the game on their local CBS broadcast channel, so the percentage of streamers is likely not as great as ADI suggests.

CBS is charging advertisers $5 million for a 30-second spot this year, ADI says. In a first, CBS is selling ads as packages that include streaming. ADI says this is the future of TV ad sales.

"2015 TV and web/mobile ads were sold separately, and, in 2016, they will be combined," says Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst at ADI. "I think we'll see more publishers and media brands, in general, selling advertising this way."

For video marketers, it's important to think beyond the TV spot, ADI says. Millennials are 58 percent more likely to watch Super Bowl ads over social networks before the game has begun, with Facebook the most popular online spot for pre-game ads. Additionally, millennials are more likely to visit an advertiser's web page while the game is still being played.

"A coordinated, multiscreen launch event is critical this year," Gaffney says. "This means a complete shift in the way advertising is bought and sold, which will lead to reorganizations within the marketing department. You can't buy advertising in this multiscreen way if you're not structured to think like that. Super Bowl 50 will be a tipping point for the advertising industry."

For more, see the ADI blog post about its Super Bowl survey data.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net