How CBS Quietly Sold Out of Super Bowl Ads Earlier Than Usual, Despite a Pandemic

A 48-hour final flurry of activity cleared out inventory, stunning marketers

In an NFL season filled with unexpected twists and turns, CBS saved one of the biggest surprises for last. Despite public perception that its Super Bowl ad market had been soft due to the pandemic, as some traditional Big Game advertisers had decided to sit out this year, a ViacomCBS spokesperson said Wednesday that it had “virtually sold out” of its in-game inventory.

The news stunned marketers, some of whom had been hoping to capitalize last-minute on what they had perceived to be, in the words of one anonymous buyer, “some avails out there that we haven’t seen in awhile”—and potentially discounted from the $5.5

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