The Super Bowl is a way to reach to hard-to-get audiences,

The smaller, mid-sized networks are going to be the losers, ... The [ad] buyers have been able to achieve their [price] goals with the bigger companies.

The deal indicates that consolidation in online ads is continuing even among the largest players. It puts increasing pressure on, and marginalizes, anyone who's not at least No. 2 or No. 3 in a category.

It seems almost inevitable that there is some fall off from broadcast to cable, but whether it's anything meaningful is a big question, ... Advertisers going into the season will probably estimate it pretty close to ABC's last year numbers.

For the last couple of years, there have been some spots left up in the air on a distressed basis. But the game continues to be one of the most efficient ways to generate quick awareness among a broad audience, particularly those who don't watch a lot of TV during the year. So even at its high price, it continues to be attractive.

They hit a low on their pricing and discounting about three years ago. This was the first year they began to capitalize on that creativity.