Super Bowl ads selling for more than $4 million

The maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other brews will launch Budweiser Black Crown with a 30-second ad on Feb. 3 during Super Bowl XLVII. / Anheuser-Busch/PRNewsFoto

NEW YORK Super Bowl ads have sold for more than $4 million for some 30-second spots for this year's game.

All the commercials for the NFL championship Feb. 3 in New Orleans are sold out, CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves said Tuesday.

• CBSSports.com: Complete coverage of Super Bowl XLVII
  

Companies paid an average of $3.5 million for a 30-second spot last year, the previous record for a number that keeps going up.

Super Bowl XLVI Commercials

TV's biggest event averaged more than 111 million viewers in 2012. Marketers for everything from cars to yogurt used plenty of stars in last year's crop of ads.

For CBS, the entire company is taking part in promoting the Super Bowl. The network's telecasts will be headquartered in New Orleans' Jackson Square. The sets will be used by 15 different shows from nine CBS divisions, from the main network to cable channels to online to radio.

"We've never done anything like this before," CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said.

That list includes the daytime show "The Talk," which will broadcast from the city the week leading up to the game to try to take advantage of the Super Bowl's large female viewership.

The Jackson Square shoots will give CBS plenty of opportunities to highlight New Orleans' recovery from Hurricane Katrina as the city hosts its first Super Bowl since the storm. Its coverage will include a special called "New Orleans: Let The Good Times Roll" hosted by musician Wynton Marsalis airing at noon on Super Bowl Sunday.

The halftime show will be by Beyonce. Moonves joked: "I actually wanted Janet Jackson."

The last time a female pop star performed at the half of a Super Bowl on CBS, Jackson had her breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction" in 2004. Moonves can laugh about it now, after the Supreme Court decided last summer not to consider reinstating the government's $550,000 fine on the network.

[FalconeJabber]

Wow, I had no idea that there was such a high fine for a wardrobe malfunction! I'm a huge fan of Beyonce, so I'm looking forward to recording her, hopefully live, performance this Sunday. I was already granted the day off from my job at DISH, and I have a number of my friends and family coming over to watch the Super Bowl. All of us love football, but it's true that we'll be glued watching commercials too. I'm so happy that I finally got a DISH Hopper because I'll be able to save this Super Bowl forever since it can save up to 1,250 SD or 450 HD hours of my favorite stuff. That means that with all of this extra memory in comparison to my old DVR, I'll never have to debate on what to delete in order to make for more recording space.

[moonhill446]

It's amazing that when it comes to TV violence and violent video games that people say it has no effect on behavior. If that is true, why are companies willing to spend that much money for a commercial?

[OldTimeTruth]

How many millions of dollars that could have been put to better use and a forgotten day of sports and TV.

[KansasCity-2012]

I don't watch TV commercials. When one comes across at anyplace I am watching a television, I refuse to buy any product advertised.

I watch TV for entertainment and TV commercials don't entertain me.

I even skip every add that crawls across my YouTube or CBSNews website.

I totally dislike advertisement and know it drives up the cost of the product.

The best products in the world don't need advertising.

I subscribe to the belief that if you have to advertise, your product sucks and you can't sell it any other way.

[hypnotoad72]

I'm sure Beyonce is cheap enough to do a similar wardrobe malfunction stunt, too.

I don't watch this drivel, and if I want to see wardrobe malfunctions I certainly don't need overhyped and glorified TV...