Super Bowl XLII

I was really disappointed at my fellow bloggers because they all ignored a major event happening this Sunday, February 03, 2008 Super Bowl XLII

Two questions circled around my head:

1. 1. How many people are expected to watch the game?

2. 2. Cost of a Super Bowl ad?

Believe it or not more than 72,000 people are expected to attend the Super Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium and thousands more are expected to take part in pre-game festivities in the Glendale area. In addition, more than 140 million people in the U.S. and a total of billion around the around are expected to watch the game live on television.

Also, some presidential candidates considered purchasing Super Bowl ads. An advisor to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said that the football audience is “a very ripe and timely target.” However, Fox Television nixed the prospect of any political ads, citing equal time regulations and the fact that the ad space had already sold out before any candidates

One of 63 thirty-second spots among thirty-seven different advertisers will cost an estimated of $2.7 million, up from $2.6 million in 2006. However, advertisers are usually offered discounted rates below the official one. Cars.com, which had yet to buy a Super Bowl Ad, made an early announcement that it will purchase two spots.

Four automobile companies will advertise this year: Audi (paying a homage to the 1972 movie The Godfather), General Motors, Hyundai and Toyota. Hyundai was initially hesitant to air the ads, but eventually gave the green light. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

In October 2007, Hyundai said it would become a first-time Super Bowl advertise and signed up for two 30-second spots. With prices for Super Bowl XLII ads going for a reported $2.7 million to $3 million for each 30 seconds, Hyundai spokesman Chris Hosford tells Automotive News, “Is this the best thing to do with our advertising funds in the first quarter?”
http://advertising.about.com/

Z

Techcrunch on the Presidential Candidates

Since I’ve added Techcrunch on my RSS Reader I’ve read a lot about politics, which I’m not overly interested in, but I was interested in how Mike Arrington from Techcrunch asked each presidential candidate 10 key questions in technology, and posted the results online. After these questions were posted, they than asked the online community to do a poll on which candidate will do the most for technology.

The 10 questions were dealing with net neutrality, internet privacy, mobile spectrum rules, the digital divide, education (in technology), internet and taxes, immigration and H1B visas, intellectual property, China, and renewable energy.

I’m actually really impressed with some of the answers that the candidates gave. If I was asked some of these questions I don’t know what I would say about questions like internet and taxes (the internet has taxes?), the digital divide (the what?), and mobile spectrum rules (something to do with phones I’m assuming). I can’t imagine what these presidential candidates, such as Mike Gravel, could possibly know about the digital age and technology (mainly because Mike Gravel looks like he’s my grandfathers great, great grandfather).

The outcome of the poll can be seen here, which was taken from December 18th to January 28th. On the democratic side Barack Obama was way ahead with 60% of the votes and on the republican side Ron Paul was way ahead with 73%. I think because these two candidates are leading in the technology sector they will gain a lot of votes that the non-computer savvy candidates won’t have.

If anyone wants to view the questions and answers here are Barack Obama, John McCain, John Edwards, Mitt Romney, Mike Gravel, and Dennis Kucinich’s answers.

I was wondering if Canadians politicians use the internet much during elections, and if they do, who are the prominent leaders in this area. Like I said, politics don’t really concern me much so I have no idea.

Thats all for now.

Cheers,

David McKenna