Fox's Super Bowl Promo Strategy Is Going to the Next Level

On Wednesday, Fox revealed it took in $600 million in ad revenue for Super Bowl Sunday, with some in-game 30-second spots going for north of $7 million. So when time is money (literally, millions of dollars for seconds), it doesn't leave the network endless hours for self-promotion during the game. "I'd love to tell you I have three hours of promotional time in the game. I don't, as you well know, and it's a finite number," Darren Schillace, president of marketing for Fox Entertainment, told Adweek of the company's promo plans. "So we want to be strategic and make sure we can get a little bit of frequency to hit these priorities." Fox last aired the Super Bowl in 2020, using a "Super Monday" campaign to encourage viewers to take Monday off and spend the day with the network. But the company is shifting away from brand-focused campaigns this time around, instead putting resources into promoting its programs to a Super Bowl audience that should top 100 million. Fox Eyes Nearly $600 Million in Super Bowl Sunday Ad Revenue "Right now, with the competitive landscape—and you know how this business changes every year—there's more and more out there," Schillace said. "So our strategy is show-specific, and we have some fun within each of our shows where appropriate." The company identified four pillar programs it will lean into during the game: Gordon Ramsay's Next Level Chef, whose Season 2 premieres following the Super BowlThe Masked Singer, which launches Season 9 on Feb. 15Joel McHale's new series Animal Control, which debuts Feb. 16Farmer Wants a Wife, which plows its way into the airwaves (and America's hearts) on March 8 "It's an overused phrase, but a rising tide lifts all boats. A couple of good things on the network will add value to all that promo time, and everything else gets more exposure," Schillace said. "So you align a couple of priority shows with the biggest platform on television, and then you hope for success from that, and then the halo from that." In 2020, Fox aired The Masked Singer after the Super Bowl, finding massive success with 23.7 million tuning into the Season 3 premiere, per Nielsen. The network is following that unscripted formula again with Next Level Chef. "Typically, you see known IP perform a little bit better, and unscripted perform even a little bit better than that," Schillace said of the coveted after-the-Super Bowl position, adding, "Gordon is such a perfect alignment from a tonal standpoint. Food could not be more relatable, and a competition show after the ultimate competition day seems perfect." As for the other three programs, the strategy made sense. "We knew we wanted a comedy to premiere the Thursday after the Super Bowl to be paired with Call Me Kat. And then obviously, once the Animal Control show came to be, that was the perfect spot for it," Schillace explained. "Same thing with Farmer Wants a Wife. There was an open opportunity behind the spring edition of The Masked Singer. We knew its proximity to the Super Bowl made it worthwhile." Cooking up creativity During Fox's Super Bowl promos, viewers can expect the unexpected. "We went to London and shot spots with Gordon Ramsay specifically to have some breakthrough moments with him in the game. We have the drop-ins that you see in all sports, and he's on the elevator that's in Next Level Chef as he drops into frame," Schillace said. "So being bespoke in the creative, so it doesn't look like what everyone else is doing. We could all just drop in a logo. We're dropping in Gordon." Schillace added that Masked Singer's production played perfectly into promo creation, using footage from the series as well as new ideas created internally. And after seeing the first few cuts of Farmer Wants a Wife, Schillace is excited to create a "moment within the show." Fox's rural-themed reality dating series about farmers looking for love already made a splash with a teaser during the NFL playoffs. After a promo aired during the Eagles blowout of the New York Giants, the show's particularly interesting title took off on Twitter. Some comments were positive; others weren't. Regardless, it had people talking. "This was a tease spot. I don't even know if we had 10 seconds of footage in it. And that, to me, is when you know you have something, when you have that spark," Schillace said. "And then how do we make sure that that spark doesn't flame out? And having the Super Bowl, we have a 30-second spot to introduce you to the four farmers, the concept, the women, the fun and the love." In terms of the overall promo picture, Schillace said Fox is being "smarter" with its Super Bowl strategy by leaning into its frequency for priority shows and looks to carry viewers throughout the weeks ahead. "I'm not so arrogant to think I can get someone Monday through Sunday to watch Fox from 8 to 10, seven nights a week. So we make sure that in L3 to L7, our strategy with our partner Hulu, all of those are ways to watch our programming," Schillace said. "As long as you watch. At the end of the day, I'll make sure you know where it is and when it's on."