WJZ, the Baltimore CBS owned station, expects to be a winner regardless of who takes home the Vince Lombardi Trophy this year, the Baltimore Business Journal is reporting.
Jay Newman, WJZ’s president and general manager, told the Business Journal the station has already sold out its commercial inventory for Super Bowl XLVII. He declined to divulge how much money the station got for the spots.
Nationally, Super Bowl commercials go for as much as $4 million. CBS chairman and chief executive officer, Les Moonves, revealed in November WCBS, the New York owned CBS station, sold a thirty second Super Bowl spot for $1 million.
The Business Journal quotes an an industry source who told them a 30 second spot in the Baltimore market will more likely go for more than $30,000. While that doesn’t compare to a cool million, the Journal said it’s three times the going rate for a Ravens regular season game.
Local stations usually get four or five ad breaks during NFL games, said Michele Selby, president of the Baltimore communications firm Media Works. Those breaks typically include four to six 30-second commercials occurring during the first quarter, before halftime, after halftime and coming out of the third quarter.
Baltimore is expecting record ratings locally, if the 47.2 rating for the deciding playoff game against the Denver Broncos is any indication. That translates to 500,000 households in the Baltimore area tuning in to watch the Ravens’ “Ray Lewis Farewell Tour” better the “Big Comeback” of Denver’s Peyton Manning.