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Crypto exchanges to toss up a Hail Mary at Super Bowl 2022

Crypto.com and FTX scored ad spaces for their brands at the biggest sports event of next year: the Super Bowl.

Crypto exchange platforms Crypto.com and FTX will run advertising commercials during Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13. Both exchanges have been working tirelessly to establish their brands and penetrate the United States market. 

Super Bowl advertisements are known to be very costly, with rates going above $5 million for just 30 seconds. Some sponsors are even willing to pay up to a record high of $6.5 million for the same air time.

Recently, Crypto.com also announced a partnership with Angel City Football Club, a soccer team that’s expected to play in 2022. Aside from this, the exchange’s efforts include securing naming rights for the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The exchange purchased naming rights for $700 million over 20 years. With this, the Staples Center will be renamed to the Crypto.com Arena this December.

In an official announcement, Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said that the company is using its platform “in new and creative ways so that cryptocurrency can power the future of world-class sports, entertainment, and technology.”

Meanwhile, FTX also dedicates a large sum of its advertising budget to bolstering brand recognition in the United States. In October, the exchange confirmed that it would be running an ad in the upcoming Super Bowl. The exchange also got Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen to star in a $20-million ad campaign.

Related: FC Barcelona, Man City canceled crypto deals show cash is not everything

Earlier this year, FTX also secured naming rights for a U.S. stadium. The exchange reportedly paid $135 million for a 19-year contract to rename the Miami Heat’s home arena into the FTX Arena.

Back in 2020, blockchain penetrated the Super Bowl through nonfungible tokens (NFT). Nonprofit trade group Avocados from Mexico inserted NFTs in its advertising campaign. With this, users can collect digital avocados and are able to win blockchain-based rewards.

According to Ivonne Kinser, head of digital marketing at Avocados From Mexico, the results were overwhelmingly positive. Kinser said they delivered “3.2 billion social impressions” through the ad campaign.

BTC price chart seen mirroring US spot Bitcoin ETF launch pattern

FTX buys Super Bowl ad slot to promote crypto to a TV audience of 92M

FTX exchange will advertise for the first time during the Super Bowl LVI to reach mainstream football fans.

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has secured an advertisement spot in one of the most watched events in America — the championship game of the National Football League, to be held in Feb. 2022

According to a report in Bloomberg, FTX purchased an ad in this year’s Super Bowl LVI motivated by the wide reach of the audience.

The Super Bowl is invariably the top rating TV program of the year, and accounts for 28 of the 30 highest rating broadcasts in U.S. TV history.

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX exchange, has made football one of the priorities within a marketing strategy that focuses on sports as the fastest growing customer base for crypto adoption. He said:

“There is no bigger, more mainstream event to share a message like that than the Super Bowl.@

Although the content of the ad or how much FTX paid hasn’t been disclosed, NBC’s going price for an ad at next year’s Super Bowl is $6.5 million. The price of a 30-second ad at the 2021 event was $5.5 million.

The previous event engaged an average television audience of about 92 million viewers.

This year’s Super Bowl in February, saw a shift in advertisers as brands including Hyundai, Pepsi, Coke, and Budweiser opted out, leaving room for newer players that thrived during the pandemic and became first time advertisers a the Super Bowl LV.

Some of those include fast casual and delivery services (Chipotle, DoorDash), e-commerce (Vroom), services for job seekers (Indeed, Fiverr), and even home improvement brands (Scotts Miracle-Gro, Hellmann’s). With crypto seeing a huge surge of interest as people began to work from home during the pandemic, it’s only fitting that a crypto exchange join the line up for the forthcoming event.

Related: FTX crypto exchange raises $420M from 69 investors

In June, FTX secured a long term partnership with Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen that included an equity stake in the company and payment in crypto for their services, including the TV ad below.

FTX also became the official sponsor of Major League Baseball in June and in March arranged to name the Miami Heat’s home stadium the FTX Arena for the next 19 years.

During last week's Miami Heat season opener game, the international crypto exchange gave every spectator in one section of FTX Arena $500 in crypto.

Coinbase has also followed FTX steps into sport related sponsorships with a multi-year partnership agreement with the NBA and WNBA as the exclusive cryptocurrency platform partner.

BTC price chart seen mirroring US spot Bitcoin ETF launch pattern