NBC has sold 30-second ads for Super Bowl LII for a reported $5 million per spot. So it’s a big deal when an ad doesn’t fire off correctly. It happened midway during the second quarter and millions of TVs went to black instead of commercial, and then NBC awkwardly went back to the game with Al Michaels in mid-sentence.
Of course, leave it to the Deadpool movie Twitter account to put some humor into the situation:
Sorry guys. Sat on the remote. #DPtheSB #SB52
— Deadpool Movie (@deadpoolmovie) February 5, 2018
And with the Super Bowl having the biggest audience of the year, it didn’t go unnoticed:
https://twitter.com/owillis/status/960311784010854401
NBC just lost like $2 mil there
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) February 5, 2018
Did the Hawaii missile alert employee get hired by NBC to run that last commercial break?
— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) February 5, 2018
This was my TV screen! pic.twitter.com/rSyVjY3hLF
— ANTHONY ADAMS (@spiceadams) February 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/kenlevine/status/960311899337383937
Certainly, NBC is hoping that it won’t be experiencing any more technical glitches. The network sent out this statement:
From NBC Sports spokesperson:
"We had a brief equipment failure that we quickly resolved. No game action or commercial time were missed."
— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) February 5, 2018
About Ken Fang
Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.
He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.
Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.