Unique among American television shows, the Super Bowl attracts some viewers who watch primarily for the commercials. That viewing experience will change next year.
According to John Ourand of Sports Business Daily, FOX and the NFL have agreed that Super Bowl LIV will have fewer commercial breaks than past Super Bowls, but the breaks will be longer so the same number of commercials will air. The NFL and FOX agreed to four commercial breaks per quarter instead of five, with each running for two and a half minutes instead of two minutes.
“For several years now, we have been working with our broadcast partners to make changes to our game broadcasts that are intended to improve the viewing experience,” said NFL VP/Broadcasting Cathy Yancy. “We’ve seen positive results from these efforts.”
Most viewers probably won’t realize there’s been any change; the same change was made for non-Super Bowl postseason games the last two years and few if any fans said a thing about it. FOX said the change is unlikely to affect ad sales.
