For the first time in the modern era, the Super Bowl is set to have less commercial breaks with Fox Corp and the NFL cutting the number of breaks per quarter from five to four in 2020.
TV stations airing the NFL have been showing four breaks per quarter for the last two years during the playoffs, yet the format hasn’t been used for a Super Bowl since the early 1980s.
The cut is hoped to make the ads that do feature more memorable, and the game appear as if it’s moving faster.
While fewer ad breaks doesn’t mean there will necessarily be fewer commercials, the move may help Fox give grounds for its premium pricing for ad spots, which comes off the back of NFL’s research that found four commercial breaks lead to greater ad retention.
The Super Bowl is the most expensive ad slot on TV, with a 30-second spot costing upwards of $5 million ($AU7m).
The move is based on the Super Bowl’s declining viewership and advertising sales.
In 2019, Super Bowl ad sales dropped more than 6 per cent, while viewership came in at 98.2 million, which was down from 2018 and the lowest it’s been since 2008.
