NBC Sets Super Bowl Ad Record

NEW YORK: NBC took in $206 million from advertising during the Super Bowl last night, a new record for the annual American football event.

NBC Universal sold out its ad inventory for the game to 32 advertisers across a range of categories, with a record unit price of $3 million. The ads are being made available to view on NBC.com, Hulu.com and Superbowl.com.

The network also set a new milestone with the $261 million it recorded in revenues from ads on the network throughout the day. The Super Bowl coverage kicked off at 6 p.m., following a pre-game broadcast, and was followed by a new episode of the hit comedy The Office. 

"These advertising milestones show the power of the NFL brand and the strength of the Super Bowl as a TV property in this economic climate," said Jeff Zucker, the president and CEO of NBC Universal. "The Super Bowl has become one of our country’s biggest holidays, a uniquely American day, and advertisers recognized the value in being a part of it, as their commercials are nearly as big a part of the day as the football itself. This is an extraordinary story for NBC against the backdrop of this economy."