The Super Bowl's annual adfest has become the game within the game, complete with winners and losers, touchdowns and fumbles. This year it looks like a microcosm of trends driving the ad industry. It's not surprising the dot-coms are almost gone. This game involves as many egos in the boardroom as on the field. It's the biggest 'Look at me' statement a CEO can make.'' For consumers, the Super Bowl should be less confusing.
Amateur hour is over.
More multiple ads Instead, Super Bowl XXXV will feature fewer advertisers buying more time. Only 20 or so advertisers will divide 30 minutes of in-game commercial time vs. 36 advertisers last year. Viewers saw a lot of single-unit sponsors last year. CBS is commanding record prices, but the dot-com meltdown meant it had to work harder and longer to get those fees. So many dot-coms rained a ''meteor shower of cash in advance'' on ABC, as one CBS executive puts it, that last year's game was virtually sold out for months.