<P> Because of the overall buzz surrounding them, commercials aired during the Super Bowl receive additional airplay and exposure outside of the game as well, such as during newscasts and morning shows . Since 2000, CBS has aired an annual television special prior to the game, Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials, which showcases notable Super Bowl ads from prior games, and in recent years, has allowed viewers to vote for their favorite Super Bowl ads to be featured during it . Many viewers watch the Super Bowl only for the commercials: in 2015, Dish Network went as far as allowing the "Primetime Anytime" and "AutoHop" features on its Hopper digital video recorder, which automatically records primetime programs from the major networks and trims commercials from the recordings, to function in reverse and allow users to view a recording of the Super Bowl that skips over the game itself and only shows the commercials . </P> <P> The popularity of video sharing websites such as YouTube have also allowed Super Bowl advertisements to become viral videos; to take advantage of this, a growing number of advertisers have elected to post previews of their commercial, or even the full - length commercial, online prior to the game . A notable example of this strategy occurred at Super Bowl XLV: on February 2, 2011, four days prior to the game, Volkswagen posted the full version of its Star Wars - themed ad "The Force" on YouTube . By Sunday, the ad had already received over 16 million views, and went on to be the most shared Super Bowl advertisement ever . Ironically, until Super Bowl 50, official online streams of the Super Bowl provided by U.S. broadcasters did not include all of the commercials from the television broadcast; at Super Bowl XLIX, only 18 advertisers bought ad time within NBC's stream of the game (although NBC did post all of the ads on a Tumblr blog throughout the game). At Super Bowl 50, CBS mandated that each advertiser's purchase cover both the television and digital broadcasts, meaning that for the first time, the online stream of Super Bowl 50 provided by CBS included all national commercials from the television broadcast . </P> <P> Owing to the large potential audience, the network broadcasting the Super Bowl can also charge a premium on advertising time during the game . A thirty - second commercial at Super Bowl I in 1967 cost US $37,500 . By contrast, Super Bowl XLVI set what was then a record for the price of a Super Bowl advertisement, selling 58 spots (including those longer than 30 seconds) during the game, generating $75 million USD for NBC; the most expensive advertisement sold for $5.84 million . Super Bowl XLVII and Super Bowl XLVIII both set the average cost of a 30 - second commercial at $4 million . Super Bowl XLIX, also broadcast by NBC, surpassed that record with a base price of $4.5 million . </P> <P> Media executives projected that the cost of a 30 - second commercial could exceed $5 million at Super Bowl 50, a figure that CBS confirmed . That price would serve as a plateau for the two subsequent games; Fox would match that figure for Super Bowl LI, and NBC would slightly exceed for Super Bowl LII, although it never explicitly stated how much its base price would be . Super Bowl LI would also, for the first time in the game's history, feature overtime play; four ads were broadcast between the end of regulation and the start of play, including two ads seen earlier in the game, and two ads that were sold for and also seen during the post-game show . While Fox had negotiated ad sales for overtime in the event it were to occur, it is unknown whether the network charged a premium on top of the base cost . In comparison, Sunday Night Football, the flagship primetime game during the regular season, has an average cost of around $700,000 for 30 seconds of time . The average cost of a 30 - second ad during the Super Bowl increased by 87% between 2008 and 2017 . However, the $5 million per 30 seconds appears to have become a soft cap, as for the third year in a row, as of Super Bowl LII, this has been quoted as the rough cost per ad . </P>

Why does it cost millions of dollars to air one commercial during the super bowl
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