Were you interested in buying an ad on the Super Bowl? I know, the World Series only just wrapped up, so who in the world is thinking about the Super Bowl right now? As it turns out, a lot of advertisers are. Paramount (NASDAQ:PARA) just offered word that its slate of Super Bowl ads has about filled up, and that was enough to send shares blasting up nearly 9% in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
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The latest Super Bowl, Super Bowl LVIII—or 58 for those who don’t cotton to the Roman numeral—will air February 11, 2024, and when it does, it will likely have a full complement of advertisers offering up those impressive Super Bowl ads. Paramount reps noted that the slate is “virtually sold out,” and managed to do so ahead of normal time. This is the first time that Paramount will show the game since 2021, when it briefly lost the rights to Fox (NASDAQ:FOX). And Fox cashed in, too; Super Bowl ad revenue in 2022 ran around $600 million, with just one 30-second spot going for a hefty $7 million by itself.
What’s truly impressive here, notes Variety, is that normally, the Super Bowl ad sale isn’t concluded until “the final hours before the game kicks off” in February. Yet here, it’s barely November, almost three months ahead of schedule. Given what we’ve seen going on in the digital advertising space, and given what we just heard from Target’s CEO a few hours ago—about how consumers are pulling back in every category, including food—it’s easy to wonder what those advertisers see that makes it worth paying for Super Bowl ad time three months ahead of schedule. Whatever it is, though, it’s great news for Paramount, who will land a hefty purse from this win. Especially since CBS is looking for between $6.5 million and $7 million—that former record—per 30-second spot.
What is the Projection for Paramount Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on PARA stock based on seven Buys, four Holds, and seven Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average PARA price target of $16.80 per share implies 41.89% upside potential.
