SCORECARD
26 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
in a communal viewing setting.” Five of the six
most watched programs of 2019, for instance, were
football games (the Oscars ranked fourth).
This is not the first time that political
campaigns have waded into sports broadcasts;
Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, taking place
just six days before Election Day, included ads
from both Trump and Hillary Clinton. But the
high profile of and attention paid to Super Bowl
commercials, not to mention the timing (a day
before the Iowa caucuses and two days before
Trump’s fourth State of the Union), presents an
obvious opportunity to drive water-cooler talk.
With the Summer Olympics on the horizon—
sorry, sport-and-state separatists—this is only a
harbinger for the year ahead. “If you look back in
time, Republicans kind of owned sports, buying
time on ESPN and against NASCAR,” Jester says.
“But now, it’s one of those places you have to be.
The reach and live-watching aspect makes sports
a difference maker.” —Sarah Kwak
0 THE fans who want to keep politics
out of sports: You might want to avoid
Super Bowl LIV—or at least the parts in
between the football. The campaigns of President
Donald Trump and Democratic hopeful Michael
Bloomberg have bought ad time in this year’s
big game, to the tune of $10 million apiece. It
is believed to be the first time that presidential
campaign commercials will run nationwide in what
is routinely the most watched broadcast of the year.
In part a sign of the deep pockets that Trump
and Bloomberg (both billionaire New Yorkers with
a degree of media expertise) possess, the ad buys
also demonstrate a drastic shift in American media
consumption. “Over the last 10 years or so, we’ve
seen big changes in TV ratings with streaming
services and on-demand, but sports is the one
thing that’s held strong or even increased,” says
Daniel Jester, a partner overseeing media planning
and buying at the political ad agency GMMB. “It’s
where you know they’re watching live and often
TWO SUPER BOWL
COMMERCIALS FANS WON’T
WANT TO TALK ABOUT
AD
NAUSEAM
,explaining why he hit the
T
AKSO
NOV (FIELD); JEFF KOW
ALSKY/AFP/GETTY IM
AGES
(BLO
OM
BERG); BREN
DAN SM
IALOW
SKI/AFP/GETTY IM
AGES (TRU
MP);
GETTY IM
AGES (M
ASCO
T); M
ATT KIN
G/GETTY IM
AGES (M
EDVEDEV)
POLITICAL
FOOTBALL
Bloomberg
(left) and Trump
will each buy
$10 million in
ad time during
the Super Bowl,
reaching about
100 million
viewers.
NEWSMAKERS
