Last Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show was the tenth to carry the Pepsi name. For now, it’s the last.
As recently reported by Terry Lefton of Sports Business Journal, Pepsi will not be sponsoring the Super Bowl halftime show moving forward. Pepsi is expected to continue to be an NFL sponsor, along with its corporate kin of Gatorade and Frito-Lay. (Gatorade has been an NFL sponsor for 39 years.)
The rights to the halftime show are being pitched with an annual price tag of $40-50 million, with one of the factors being whether the brand already serves as a league sponsor. Contenders mentioned by SBJ include Verizon and Amazon.
Yes, that’s a lot of money for fewer than 15 minutes. But it’s a massive audience. Moreover, The Hollywood Reporter explained last year that the league is looking for ways to make the halftime show bigger than just the halftime show, “taking different aspects of it making it stand way outside of the 12 minutes.”
The extra content could include, for example, “documentary footage around the preparations for the show or behind-the-scenes access, or footage from dress rehearsals or bonus performances.” The bonus content would result in more engagement from fans and, in turn, more value for the sponsor.
Given the intent to expand the footprint of the show, it makes sense for the league to partner with a sponsor that can get the most out of the content. Pepsi can only do so much. Amazon or Verizon or some other purveyor of digital media can do everything.