MINNEAPOLIS (CBSNewYork) — NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl LII briefly went dark Sunday night. 
 
 Just after LeGarrette Blount’s 21-yard touchdown run gave the Philadelphia Eagles a 15-3 lead with 8:48 to play in the second quarter, NBC pitched to commercial, but viewers were instead greeted by more than 30 seconds of a black screen. 
 
 PHOTOS: Super Bowl LII 
 
 The signal finally returned with coverage of the game resuming. 
 
 A NBC spokesperson later said: “We had a brief equipment failure that we quickly resolved. No game action or commercial time were missed.” 
 
 NBC’s statement suggests it did not lose out on any ad revenue — a 30-second Super Bowl spot cost about $5 million. 
 
 Of course, the incident was a hot topic on social media, with many users poking fun at it. Some said the moment reminded them of Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans when the game between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers had to halted for several minutes because of a power outage inside the Superdome. 
 
 Wait, did the Super Bowl just end like “The Sopranos?” #SBLII — Chris Carlin (@ChrisCarlin) February 5, 2018 
 
 Most #SuperBowl commercials are funny but this one was just dark pic.twitter.com/yRwUHwRrAB — Adam LeBow (@LeBowAdam) February 5, 2018 
 
 I'm in editorial and not sales, but even I know you don't make money by running a dark screen during #SuperBowl breaks. — Val Dennis Craven (@valpass) February 5, 2018 
 
 Dark screen Super Bowl commercials didn’t happen when Obama was president. #thanksTrump — Justin Sparago (@Justin_Sparago_) February 5, 2018 
 
 Welp someone just got fired. 20 second ad was dark as their future at NBC. #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/EyLewFqm2y — easilyigNORAble (@easilyigNORAble) February 5, 2018 
 
 Dark season 2 looked good. #SuperBowl — Doug Schoemer (@dbschoemer) February 5, 2018 
 
 Was there a Vegas prop on the Super Bowl going dark with dead air for a few seconds? — Coley Harvey (@ColeyHarvey) February 5, 2018 
 
 The Eagles beat the Patriots 41-33 to win their first Super Bowl in franchise history. ||||| CLOSE SportsPulse: The all-time great tight end breaks down why Brady will never be the GOAT and also has a surprise hot take. USA TODAY Sports 
 
 An overhead view of Super Bowl LII. (Photo: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports) 
 
 Super Bowl viewers were greeted by a blank screen for approximately 15 to 30 seconds during NBC's Super Bowl broadcast on Sunday night. 
 
 The awkward lull came during a commercial break in the middle of the second quarter and caused a stir on social media, with some on Twitter jokingly referring to it as the best commercial of the broadcast. 
 
 In a tweet, an NBC Sports spokesperson blamed the incident on a "brief equipment failure that we quickly resolved. No game action or commercial time were missed." 
 
 From NBC Sports spokesperson: 
 
 
 
 "We had a brief equipment failure that we quickly resolved. No game action or commercial time were missed." — NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) February 5, 2018 
 
 NBC told USA TODAY Sports on Friday that the network had sold out its advertising slots during the Super Bowl. 
 
 A single 30-second advertisement costs more than $5 million, on average. 
 
 MORE: Tom Brady says he'll be back to play in 2018 season 
 
 MORE: Eagles QB Nick Foles makes Super Bowl history with TD catch 
 
 Contributing: A.J. Perez 
 
 Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad. 
 
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– One of the commercial breaks generating a lot of buzz during the Super Bowl wasn't actually a commercial at all. TV screens went black for about 30 seconds after NBC cut to a commercial in the second quarter following a Philadelphia touchdown, reports CBS. While some may have suspected some bizarro ad message, NBC later tweeted an explanation: "We had a brief equipment failure that we quickly resolved. No game action or commercial time were missed." As USA Today notes, a 30-second ad during the game costs about $5 million. Twitter had all kinds of fun, with lots of comments like this: "Best Super Bowl commercial so far has been 'empty black screen.'"