Though inking 30 second ad deals for a cool $4.5 million a pop couldn’t have been entirely easy, the network is saying it “overcame a challenging ad sales marketplace to sell all available slots during Super Bowl XLIX.”

“The three networks with NFL deals alternate hosting the big game and typically hold some spots back to the last minute when scarcity drives higher prices,” noted the International Business Times (IBT) in a post on Super Bowl ad sales. “Seth Winter, the executive vice president of advertising sales for NBC’s sports and media group told reporters Wednesday that all available ad units for the Super Bowl telecast and postgame had been sold out, and that only a handful of units remained for the pregame coverage.”

And guess what? Winter added the cherry on top of that advertising sundae by noting that all digital ad inventory had also been sold.

“This was not the easiest exercise I’ve ever been through,” Winter said.

One interesting factlet is that 15 first-time advertisers will air ads during the 2015 Super Bowl. That’s the best newcomer showing since 2000, when 19 newbies bellied up to the Super Bowl bar. Many of those were Silicon Valley startups like Pets.com; this year, two of the new entrants are adhesive brand Loctite and the foot cream brand Jublia.

“Both brands certainly had money to spend,” said IBT. “NBC’s asking price was $4.5 million per 30 seconds of air time this year, a not-insignificant increase from the $4.2 million advertisers paid in 2014. Last-minute advertisers are more likely to pay full-freight, while returning advertisers or those buying many spots would get a discount.”

The big touchdown for NBC? Winter says eighteen of the advertisers who sprung for airtime during the game also agreed to buy digital ads on NBC’s livestream, a development that helped NBC more than triple the revenue it generated during its 2012 presentation of the Super Bowl.

The post It’s a Sell Out! NBC Celebrates Victory for Super Bowl Ad Success, Says 15 First-Time Advertisers Joined Pile-On appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

And 2014’s commercial extravaganza will be even bigger for sharing.

New data released this week by marketing technology platform Unruly found the number of video shares has grown 30 times in the last three years. The top 10 most shared ads from Super Bowl 2013 generated a total of 10.2 million shares across Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere – an 89% increase from 2012 (5.4 million), and a substantial uplift from the 355,325 shares the top 10 commercials managed in 2010.

“The Super Bowl is no longer just about creating a compelling :30 TV spot that will be the talked about at the office on Monday morning,” says Unruly’s U.S president Richard Kosinski. “With more than 500,000 shares of branded video every 24 hours [source: Unruly Viral Video Chart], the Super Bowl offers advertisers a unique opportunity to efficiently extend the reach of their Super Bowl investment and generate excitement leading up to Super Bowl Sunday and beyond.”

“However, a lot of brands need to raise their game if they want to come away with a winner by making content that created a powerful connection with its online audience,” he adds. “Budweiser did just that in 2013. ‘Brotherhood’ really touched a nerve among its audience, who made it the third most shared Super Bowl ad of all time within just five days.”

To learn more about the prevalence and value of social sharing for Super Bowl ads, check out Unruly’s infographic shared below.

The post Mobile Video Shares Are The New Yardstick for Top Super Bowl Commercials appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Now available in the marketplace of all major mobile platforms, the redesigned NFL Mobile app contains product extensions and features previously available across multiple official NFL apps.

“The new NFL Mobile brings together two of the best mobile Football experiences, the cross carrier NFL ’13 and the Verizon exclusive NFL Mobile,” says Manish Jha, General Manager of Mobile at the National Football League.

“The redesigned app,” Jha explains, “built on the new mobile platform, features mobile exclusive live coverage of Thursday, Sunday, and Monday Night Football, as well as the NFL Network and NFL RedZone, for premium Verizon customers.”

Video highlights and analysis are available to all customers as are a redesigned GameCenter, ability to manage your NFL.com fantasy football team, an immersive second screen experience, Thursday Night Football Xtra, and numerous new features.

The NFL says the app represents a definitive mobile experience for NFL fans.

Combining the NFL ’13 and Verizon exclusive NFL Mobile apps, the completely redesigned NFL Mobile still provides all the basics too: news, scores, team reports, schedules and standings.

The app is available for iOS, Android, Windows, and BlackBerry phones.

The post NFL Scores with Mobile App Relaunch appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

As a result, Verizon Wireless – the official wireless service provider of the NFL – will continue to provide fans with access to football and related coverage, regardless of whether they are at home or on the go.

In light of the new deal between Verizon Wireless and the NFL, Sephi Shapira, CEO of MassiveImpact (a performance based mobile advertising company), and Roger Entner (Lead Analyst and Founder of Recon Analytics) connected with MMW to discuss how the expanded partnership with Verizon and the NFL will affect mobile advertising.

“Verizon and the National Football League have extended their agreement through 2014, stressing the importance of mobile media partnerships,” says Shapira. “In the works a new mobile app offering exclusive phone access to Thursday, Sunday, and Monday Night Football coverage, as well as game highlights, video analysis, fantasy football options, and customizable alerts. While NFL broadcasts are traditionally known for reaching a mass amount of consumers, now with the mobile app users can personalize content creating a unique opportunity for retailers to address individual interests and geo-location.”

“In the largest ever deal between a sports league and a mobile operator, Verizon is spending one billion dollar over four years to not only be the wireless sponsor of the NFL, but also expanding its ability to show more NFL games on mobile phones,” Entner adds. “Verizon will now be able to show every game including black-out games in home markets. This agreement is another step in the NFL’s embrace not only of mobile, but other digital platforms as it came on the heels of a $400 million four-year agreement with Microsoft to integrate NFL games and content into the Xbox One. The Verizon contract is for mobile phones only, whereas the Microsoft contract is for consoles and Surface tablet line. What will be very interesting is where the dividing line between phones and tablets lies – is the Samsung Note at 5.3 inches a phone or a tablet?”

“No other sports league is as aggressively focused on reaching and integrating the second and third screen as the NFL and the Verizon and Microsoft agreements give us an idea of the direction of integration,” Entner concludes. “Both agreements create a companion universe that enriches and expands NFL and associated content as they give users access to news, stats, Xbox easier Fantasy Football with ESPN SmartGlasses and Kinect integration with real time integration. It is common knowledge that sponsors of the NFL enjoy a significant advertising lift over non-sponsors, making their ads significantly more impactful.”

The post Execs Tell MMW How Verizon and NFL Deal Impacts Mobile Advertising appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Billed as “the #1 sports app of all-time,” MLB says that its MLB.com At Bat app is returning for the 2013 season with live Spring Training baseball from the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues.

Just in time for the start of baseball season, the official app of Major League Baseball is adding nine new locations to the roster of ballparks that accept digital tickets stored and presented through Apple’s Passbook iOS app.

“Digital ticketing services represent the future of all major sporting and entertainment events,” says Frank Rynders, general manager of Sporting Effects, Inc.

This season, the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics and Pittsburgh Pirates join the San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals in supporting Passbook for iOS.

The 2013 MLB regular season begins Sunday, March 31.

The post Major League Baseball Taking Major Swing at Mobile appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Billed as the “largest market research of its kind,” Brand Satisfaction tracks every major brand on Facebook and how likely fans are to recommend those brands to others.

Brand Satisfaction provides marketing and insights professionals with access to hundreds of demographic, behavioral and attitudinal details about audiences they follow.

For its first study, Brand Satisfaction compiled millions of responses from Facebook Fans of over 15,000 Facebook pages to determine the Top 20 brands with the most loyal Fans.

The top 20 looks like this:

1. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
2. Facebook
3. Google
4. Walt Disney World
5. ALDI USA
6. Xbox
7. Starbucks Frappuccino
8. Google Chrome
9. Duncan Hines
10. Adobe Photoshop
11. Tim Hortons
12. Hershey’s
13. In-N-Out Burger
14. Dove Chocolates
15. NFL
16. Portillo’s
17. BRAVO
18. Disneyland
19. Dollar Tree
20. AMC Theatre

“Demographic and behavioral data is the cornerstone to understanding a brand’s Facebook audience and powering game-changing marketing decisions,” says David Guy, CEO of LoudDoor. “Rather than relying on highly subjective social chatter or experimental ‘listening’ technologies, Brand Satisfaction does the hard work of asking brands’ Fans directly about their attitudes, behaviors and motivations. We then package this powerful data in a simple dashboard interface to empower brands to harness their Facebook asset.”

Are you surprised by any names on the list?

The post Study Shows Strongest Brand Loyalty on Facebook appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Well, according to a report today in the Denver Post, a good number of trees will be spared this season thanks to the efforts by the Denver Broncos to go high-tech in a big hurry.

This season, the team will hand out iPads that feature the week’s game plan, scouting reports, video clips and other relevant data.

To date, only two other NFL teams – the Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers — have tossed the traditional printed playbook in order to embrace the tablet revolution.

And the move could benefit the team substantially.

According to today’s report, now when Broncos head coach John Fox adds a play, “the update will be pushed automatically to the playbook app on each player’s iPad.”

“The advantage is that when they leave the building, they can take everything home with them very easily and watch tape at night and review the game plan installation,” said Broncos general manager Brian Xanders. “This is their full-time job — to prepare and do whatever they can to help us win each week.”

The post NFL’s Denver Broncos Look to Score with iPad Playbook appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

One of the most mobile-savvy organizations in the NFL is, without question, the Miami Dolphins. And the effort is clearly paying off.

On Monday, CommerceTel Corporation – a provider of proprietary mobile marketing technologies and solutions – announced that the Miami Dolphins succeeded in increasing their mobile subscriber base by more than 300% during the past year using CommerceTel’s patented mobile marketing technology.

During that time, the Miami Dolphins launched several innovative mobile marketing initiatives, including news, scores, seats and offers, to help increase ad sales.

The team also drove higher sponsorship value by engaging more fans through the mobile channel, CommerceTel says.

“Mobile has quickly become an integral part of our overall marketing and fan engagement strategy,” admits Wayne Partello, Senior Director of Content and Creative Services for the Miami Dolphins. “We wanted to communicate with our loyal and passionate fans anytime, anywhere, and in a cost-effective way. Using CommerceTel’s mobile marketing platform, we not only increased our mobile subscribers by over 300%, but also exceeded our advertising revenue projections by a wide margin.”

The post Miami Dolphins Score With Concerted Mobile Effort appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Just in time for the Super Bowl this year, Verizon Wireless is giving customers a simple approach to get some of its most popular apps, including NFL Mobile Premium, Verizon Video, VZ Navigator, Visual Voicemail, Usage Controls and a Ringback Tones subscription.

Best of all, says the carrier, they come in one bundle for one monthly price.

For a limited time, customers who sign up for the Smartphone App Pack will get all six apps for $12.99 – which is less than purchasing the apps individually. If customers already have one or more of the apps, they can get the bundle with additional apps at little to no additional cost. Smartphone customers must also have a data plan.

According to the details announced this morning, the Smartphone App Pack now bestows access to the following features:

• Live streaming of Super Bowl XLVI: For the first time ever, the Super Bowl will be streamed to select smartphones via NFL Mobile, only from Verizon.
• Power of Control: Visual Voicemail allows subscribers to view caller and voicemail information and listen to voicemail messages with ease. Account owners can manage wireless usage with various settings and tools offered through Usage Controls.
• High-Quality Video Entertainment: Verizon Video gives customers access to more than 250 current, full-episode TV shows from all the major broadcast networks and popular cable channels.
• Smarter Navigation: VZ Navigator’s voice-guided directions enable customers to travel with confidence whether they’re in a familiar place and need to get around more efficiently or exploring new territory in a car or on foot.

What role – if any – will your smartphone play in the days leading up to Super Bowl Sunday?

The post Verizon Preps for Super Bowl XLVI with Smartphone App Pack appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Hindered by slumping television ratings and a reduction of core audience engagement, Nascar is looking to maintain the return of some lost momentum in 2011. And according to Nascar CMO Steve Phelps, social media is poised to play a vital role in Nascar’s comeback and re-branding.

Phelps recently shared with AdAge his vision and goals for the immediate future of Nascar.

“We are hiring someone new,” Phelps admits with regard to Nascar’s social strategy and those directing it, “and a big part of the job will be training an entire industry — from driver reps to driver teams to our own internal teams — on social.”

“On the digital side,” he says, “we’ve had a relationship with Turner since 2001, where they operate Nascar.com. That relationship has served our industry very well. That said, our agreement goes through 2014, and we will probably go in a different direction after that. Not because Turner has done anything wrong, but because in the future it will be important for us to control our own message and content. They have allowed us to take portions of their rights back. For example, all the Twitter feeds that we do come from our internal team and are not run by Turner people anymore.”

According to Phelps, using social media and mobile marketing as effectively as other major sports have – the NBA, MLB, NHL, and NFL – is a paramount goal for the new year and a cornerstone of Nascar’s efforts to attract new, more diverse fans.

So far, Phelps said Nascar has “done some small things” in terms of attracting multicultural audiences. “At three of our race tracks we did heavy up-spending in those markets buying media. We had a virtual garage tour in Spanish. The Nascar website can be viewed in Spanish, as well, but that’s basically just a translation. Looking ahead, we’re in discussions with a Spanish-language outlet to create digital content for us, and we hope to have meaningful content live in 2013.”

The post Social Media to Drive Nascar in 2012 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.