High ad prices prompt GM to pull out of Super Bowl

DETROIT » For General Motors the price isn’t right when it comes to an ad during next year’s Super Bowl.

The Detroit automaker said Friday that it won’t be advertising on the Feb. 3 spectacle because of a steep price hike demanded by CBS, the network broadcasting the game.

A person with knowledge of advertising costs said Friday that CBS wants 25 to 30 percent more for air time than NBC charged during this year’s game. Companies spent an average of $3.5 million for a 30-second commercial this year, meaning the increase would be at least $875,000 per ad. The ad prices for next year’s game have not been made public yet.

For GM it’s the second major advertising change it confirmed over this past week. On Tuesday the company said it would pull $10 million in ads from Facebook, saying they weren’t effective.

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