From Chips to Beer to Music, Super Bowl Makes Cash Registers Ring

Super Bowl XLIII is a dream for makers of everything from potato chips to beer to tortilla chips to music.You, like millions of others in America, will most likely spend the better part of Super Bowl Sunday parked in front of the television taking in not only the game, but the pre-game, halftime, post-game, as well as a little commercial watching in-between. And, like many other Americans, food, beverages, and friends will be part of the mix. The Super Bowl is more than a game, it’s an event. Lest there be any doubt that advertisers know they have the largest captive audience they will ever see at one moment, last year’s game between the Patriots and the Giants was viewed by a record 97.5 million people nationwide, the most-watched TV broadcast in 2008. To tap into this vast audience, the cost of a 30-second spot on FOX in last year’s Super Bowl was $2.7 million, or a total spending by advertisers of over $195 million. Even in a recession, NBC will charge a record $3 million...