This year’s Super Bowl broke records both within audience levels and ad pricing. On average 111 million viewers watched the 2011 Super Bowl, besting the previous year’s then record audience of 106.5 million. This year’s audience growth of 4.2% is above the average 2.8% growth that event has seen since 1968 but is lower than the price increases on advertising.

For this year’s Super Bowl Fox sold 30-second spots at estimated prices between $2.8 million and $3 million, around 7% more than what CBS charged last year. Given the average reach of 111 million viewers or 53 thousand households, the effective CPM (eCPM) of the broadcast was round around $27 for viewers and $54 for households. This is actually close to the levels seen in 2001 but over double what they were in 1991.

The eCPM growth is even more noticeable when compared to the average paid for broadcast network primetime. Basically the difference between the two can be considered to be a premium paid for spot placements within Super Bowl. Just as one thousand impressions are worth (or priced) more on The New York Times rather than a lesser paper, the opportunity to air a spot on the Super Bowl has a unique value and an extra cost.

Besides simple brand status the essential reason for this “Super Premium” is that television viewing, while increasing overall during the last 20 years, has greatly fragmented so now there is less supply, and inherently greater demand, for any event that can consistently reach a large portion of the marketplace. No other singular live broadcast has the same draw as the Super Bowl. Besides status and reach, a third factor is engagements- the audience during the Super Bowl pays rapt attention during commercials breaks, further increasing the potential value of these message slots. Given these reasons it is easy to understand why the eCPM of the Super Bowl is double the average for broadcast primetime.

Of course it would only make sense to buy one of these placements if you’re certain about the message you’ll be sending, which opens up another debate about the “best” Super Bowl commercials. Ad Age has two interesting top 10 lists for the spots that were enjoyed or recalled the most. It is interesting to note that the three spots with the highest likeability (VW Darth Vader Passat, Bridgestone  Beaver, E-Trade Baby Sneezing Cat) are not on the list for best recall.

Is it more important to be liked rather than remembered? Most sensible marketers would probably prefer the latter, but a likability, or an emotional connection, can be a strong force for larger ticket items or premium brands. I also think that the VW Darth Vader spot received a lot of attention post the Super Bowl, and it has been shared and viewed online a lot more since then so perhaps its recall levels and brand reinforcement to VW are now higher. Another perspective is that the top recalled spots (Doritos Pug, Budweiser Cowboy, Doritos Office Licking) have been criticized for using cheap puns which don’t build lasting connections with audiences, but perhaps this is what you need when you’re selling low-priced items like chips and beer to less mature customers. I think there is a reason that Budweiser has bought the first commercial spot placement in the Super Bowl for years, and repeated a very similar messaging style. Both the Budweiser and VW messaging style have their place, and should simply be subjectively applied depending on the marketing strategy.