YouTube to Blitz Super Bowl Spots

Some advertisers are paying CBS more than $5 million to air their 30-second spots this year during the Super Bowl.

YouTube on Wednesday said it will launch an AdBlitz channel and microsite that will host all of the high-profile commercials that will air in the Super Bowl.

This is the 8th year YouTube has created an online home for Super Bowl TV commercials. Viewers will have a chance to watch, share and vote on their favorites.

YouTube said last year, people watched more than 840 million minutes of Super Bowl ads on YouTube, up 127% from the year before.

On average, AdBlitz participants generated four times as many views of their spots as advertisers who didn’t participate.

YouTube says that last year, more than a third of the time spent watching Super Bowl ads online was done before game day. Brands that posted full versions of their commercials online got an average of 2.2 times more views and 3.1 times more social shares by Monday morning than those that waited until kickoff to release their ads.

YouTube is also launching its Real-Time Ads product in beta, which will enable brands to run ads instantly across YouTube with messages that tie to big moments in the game.

Wix.com, which made its Super Bowl debut last year, will use Real-Time Ads during this year’s Super Bowl game.

Also Comcast will be using Real-Time Ads during the upcoming Oscars, promoting their rich library of on-demand content during one of the largest movie events of the year.

YouTube describes its program in a blog post.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.