CATONSVILLE, MD: The benefits from Super Bowl advertising persist well into the rest of the year, according to a new study which notes increased sales during subsequent major events in the sporting calendar.

In an analysis to be published in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, researchers from Stanford University and Humboldt University in Germany explored the relationship between Super Bowl viewership across the top 56 advertising markets within the US and corresponding sales in these markets for advertised brands throughout the year from 2006-2011.

The authors focused on beer and soda brands and dealt with the fact that many advertise every year by isolating the results in the home towns of participating teams.

“Our strategy is pretty intuitive. When the San Francisco 49ers returned to the Super Bowl in 2013 after many years, viewership in San Francisco and cities with large numbers of 49ers fans increases. If the ads are effective, then we should see a greater increase in advertisers’ sales in those cities, relative to those cities where the 49ers are not popular.”

They found that brands like Budweiser and Pepsi, which have a long association with Super Bowl advertising over many years, see an increase in sales during Super Bowl week even though the purchases themselves were made prior to the event and watching the ad.

The authors estimated that sales of Budweiser can increase as much as 10 six-packs per thousand households for a ten-point increase in ratings during the week leading up to the Super Bowl.

And they reported that an ad keeps giving in sales over the year, with a substantial increase in sales in markets where Super Bowl viewing was higher during subsequent sports like NCAA’s “March Madness,” the MLB and NBA games.

Specifically, Budweiser volume and revenues can increase up to 3.9% and 4.7% respectively in response to Super Bowl advertising during specific later weeks, for a ten-point increase in Super Bowl ratings.

Budweiser occupies a particular position as the exclusive beer advertiser in the Super Bowl for many years and the researchers suggested “there may be value for advertisers to negotiate exclusive advertising rights within a category to generate greater long-term value and it may make sense for the telecaster to offer such exclusive rights at a higher price.”

Sourced from INFORMS; additional content by WARC staff