Taylor Swift appeared on screen during the Super Bowl for a combined 54 seconds with 12 unique shots. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you make a few considerations, it becomes clear that the pop singer got a lot of money’s worth of free advertising. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT.
Figuring out the actual number is very difficult since it’s tough to relate screentime during a game to the value of a commercial, or how much of the audience would actually be interested in purchasing her music or going to her concerts since the audience of a football game is generally going to be different than concert goers, but here are some basic numbers.
The Cost of a Super Bowl Ad
This year, the average cost of a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl was $7 million dollars. Yes, there are some people who watch the Super Bowl just to watch the commercials, but there is still a significant percentage of viewers who use the commercial breaks as a time to get more snacks, go to the bathroom, or make sure the kids are staying entertained.
Let’s just say, to make things simple, that 75% of the viewing audience is watching and paying attention to the commercials, which honestly seems high, but let’s just go with it.
Assuming there were about 120 million Super Bowl viewers, 75% of those would equal about 90 million viewers. 90 million viewers divided by $7 million comes out to about seven cents per viewer, not including the costs to produce and make the commercial (which in itself is very expensive).
If we go off just these numbers, Taylor Swift’s value comes out to $12.7 million. This number is being released by many, but it goes much deeper than this, here’s how.
Figuring Out the Value That Taylor Swift Brought
To figure out the value that Taylor Swift brought to herself, we use the TV commercial model. We can assume that just about all 120 million viewers were watching every time Taylor Swift was shown, meaning her value per second came out to 8.4 cents per viewer. (120 million divided by $7 million dollars)
8.4 cents (value per viewer) x 120 million = $10,080,000 for 30 seconds. Over the course of 54 seconds, that number comes out to $18,144,000.
That’s right, Taylor Swift, if going off the TV commercial cost, brought in more than $18 million dollars of advertising to herself without having to do anything. This doesn’t include the post-game celebrations, social media posts, or other recognition and media that she got throughout the night.
Considering the Outliers
Again, it’s tough to compare commercials to game-time footage and say they are the same. They clearly aren’t. There is a reason why Billie Eilish isn’t dropping $7 million for a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl; it’s a completely different audience.
At the same time, actual game footage has to be worth something more than a commercial. TV commercials are stacked in a block of six to eight commercials, where once one is over, the next one comes on. For Taylor Swift, it was all her.
There is also the consideration of all the additional press she got. Going through X last night following the game, there wasn’t a lot of post-Super Bowl discussion on the commercials, but there was plenty about Taylor Swift. Additionally, millions of Swiftys were waiting and hoping for a marriage proposal (that never happened).
Taylor Swift’s Final Value
It’s impossible to give a final or concrete number on how much free advertising Taylor Swift received during the Super Bowl, but it is fair to say that she easily got over $20 million worth, and she didn’t have to do anything for it other than watch and cheer during the game.
What a life.
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