Philly TV: Fox29 Sees Super Bowl Ad Revenue Spike

With just a just a day remaining until kickoff of Super Bowl LIX, WTXF Fox29 General Manager Dennis Bianchi is feeling quite good about having the broadcast rights to the championship rematch between the hometown Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Fox29 carried the first Super Bowl between the Eagles and Chiefs two years ago, and Bianchi said there has been a 50% spike in ad sales this year compared to the 2023 game.

Bo Koelle, vice president of advertising sales at NBCUniversal in Philadelphia, said NBCU's local stations NBC10, NBC Sports Philadelphia and Telemundo62 were already 10% over their revenue target and had surpassed the 2023 performance of their Super Bowl coverage that includes pre-game and postgame shows.

The Philadelphia Business Journal reports the increase in advertising revenue for both stations has been driven by increased interest in the game and the growth of digital platforms as targets for advertisers, Bianchi and Koelle said. Viewers are anxious to see the Eagles avenge their 38-35 loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, and the opportunities to tap into that local audience have increased in the two years since thanks to the expansion of digital product offerings and advertisers' understanding of them.

Bianchi said Fox29 has been trying to leverage its status as the local home of the Super Bowl by sending its morning news anchors Mike Jerrick and Alex Holley to broadcast live from New Orleans. What’s changed from two years ago is the growth of the station's livestreaming capabilities. Anchor and reporter Bill Anderson is livestreaming from Radio Row for five and a half hours a day this week, speaking with athletes and other celebrities making the rounds.

“We're doing fantastic numbers with people tuning into the stream,” Bianchi said. “And we hope that they see our brand on the stream, what we're capable of — even when we're not on television — and come back a whole lot in the future.”

While Fox29 was streaming two years ago, it could only be viewed on the station’s website. Now the streaming has enhanced distribution through the Fox Local app, which can be downloaded on smart televisions that have video-on-demand options.