What do you get when you have huge ratings and over $200 million in ad revenue? A $45 million loss, that’s what. That loss contributed to a big drop in profits for NBC Universal.
According to the NY POST: ” It’s no secret the broadcast networks lose money on their football deals because of the huge rights fees the NFL extracts. TV execs consider football a loss leader that brings in a reliable flow of viewers.
But industry insiders are suspicious that NBC actually lost money on the Super Bowl, which commands the highest ad rates in television. Rather, some suggest GE is writing off a chunk of NBC’s losses on its NFL contract, attributing them to the Super Bowl.
In reality, the Super Bowl doesn’t usually come with a separate rights fee or contract. The game is just part of the multi-year package that a network negotiates with the league. The major networks rarely, if ever, break out the financial results for the Super Bowl.
“In the last 20 years, I don’t recall a broadcaster releasing a profit-and-loss statement for the Super Bowl,” said Neal Pilson, a former president of CBSSports and the head of Pilson Communications, a sports consulting firm. “
Maybe this report is posturing for the next broadcasting contract with the NFL.
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