Super Bowl Commercial Bets
Most Las Vegas and online sportsbooks aren't going to offer Super bowl commercial bets, because these propositions allow for inside information. If you have prop bets involving which commercials come first or how many of a certain brand name's advertisements appear, somebody somewhere has that information. That means a tv executive could bet a lot of money and make a killing. Or a low level ad person at the network broadcasting the Super Bowl could post online what's going to happen, causing havoc with the betting line. Even if a lot of people wouldn't believe the poster knew what they were talking about, some would. The process could be corrupted.
That doesn't mean you and your friends can't offer up all sorts of cool prop bets based on the Super Bowl commercials. With many viewers, the Super Bowl Sunday advertisements are as big a part of the broadcast as the game itself. You'll see tv shows and media outlets talking about the commercials days in advance. People want to know about the buzz about what's going to happen. After the Super Bowl, the next day is full of people talking about their favorite tv spot or the best commercial. Companies get in on the action, because they know if they pay their $3 million and have a big hit with a commercial spot, all that media coverage means millions more dollars in free media coverage.
I guarantee if you attend a Super Bowl watching event with a dozen or more people next year, at least one of them is going to be just as excited about the commercials as the Super Bowl itself. I'm talking about the wives and girlfriends and the odd casual football fan. To them, it's more about the event than the sport. To keep these people entertained and part of the proceedings (and perhaps win some easy money), here are some Super Bowl commercial prop bets you can suggest in 2015. I'll start by rifling through last year's commercials and the bets people made on Super Bowl XLVI.
2012 Super Bowl Ads
These ideas were some weisenheimer's ideas of Super Bowl jokes, but several made pretty good ideas for real proposition bets. Each year has its own flavor, but you can tweak these suggestions to come up with legitimate hypothetical bets. I'll show below how to tweak the ideas.
How many "Whitney promos"? (Over/Under 15.5) - Whitney was some chick sitcom NBC was promoting heavily. I would have taken the under, though it seemed like there were about 25 of them.
Your mom's favorite commercial? Options: GoDaddy, Geico, E*Trade, Beer Companies. My mother hates those Geico commercials, though I like them. Also, she almost certainly wouldn't go for those GoDaddy commercials, and probably not the beer commercials. For strategy advice, read the 2015 suggestion.
Spokesperson for Indiana Tourism - Options: Larry Bird, Ron Swanson, Bob Knight, Peyton Manning. Bird would have been the only viable competition, though this year it might be Shad Khan (a joke--more likely Danny Granger or Andrew Luck).
2015 Super Bowl Ads
Any of these three would make perfectly legitimate betting options.
How many CBS tv show promos? In 2015, CBS will have some annoying show they'll want to promote, so you can make a similar bet. Set the +/- lower, though. Alternately, you could set an over-under on how many Survivor commercials will be aired, which essentially boils down to whether it's one or two per quarter? (+/- 4.5)
Your Mom's favorite commercial? Find the person with the most opinionated mother or the one you know watches the Super Bowl. This is a wager you'll probably have to wait until after the Super Bowl to get the answer on. Sometime after the game is over, but before everyone heads home, call Mom and ask her what her favorite commercial was. Before you suggest this bet, go back and see which of these companies used animals/babies last year and bet on them.
Spokesperson for New Orleans/Louisiana Tourism - The Super Bowl this year is in New Orleans, so I'm assuming lots of talk about Hurricane Katrina recovery. Options for spokespeople include Drew Brees, Ellen Degeneres, John Goodman, Tyler Perry, Bryant Gumbel, Marshall Faulk, Matt Forte, Eli & Peyton Manning, Archie Manning, Danny Granger (again), Bobby Jindal, Fats Domino, Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr, and Birdman. If you want to be funny, try to include people like Huey Long (long dead), Lt. General James Longstreet (dead even longer), or Ann Rice (no comment).
More Super Bowl Commercial Bet Suggestions
If those won't suffice, here are a few more suggestions.
Placement of first 5-hour ENERGY advertisement - Heavily weight the odds toward the 1st and 2nd quarters of the game.
First reference to an 80s movie - Again, heavily weighted towards the 1st quarter.
Which word used more in automotive commercials? Options: Streamlined, Hybrid, Durable/Durability, Responsive, Hemi
Once again, these are simple examples. You know your group of friends more than I do, so you'll know what they appreciate, which subjects offend them, and who is best to include in your betting propositions. For instance, "Dad" might be a better person to call about the commercials, especially if he likes football, but tends to grumble about the good ole days.
Online Super Bowl Commercial Bets
If you're not interested in hypothetical bets with your NFL football friends, then you might find bets on the Super Bowl commercials at most of the brand name sports books. These are going to be more limited that you might think, but they might be linked to polls which determine which were the most popular Super Bowl commercials. Since these are outcomes which can't be known beforehand or determined in advance, Las Vegas sports books and online sportsbooks are more likely to take those bets.
