The Super Bowl will be played on Sunday night. That means some of the best TV commercials of the year are coming your way, or so it used to be. In times past, marketers would not reveal their commercials until the breaks in the game. They leaked enough information about their ads to make people curious, but even celebrities who appeared in these commercials were contractually bound to keep their involvement hush-hush. It increased viewership – so the logic went. But those mystery commercials are no longer a mystery. Long before kickoff, marketers released the Super Bowl commercials on social media.

Why would marketers risk losing the impact their ads have on consumers by releasing them before the big game? We know that in terms of impact, the first time you see one of these commercials, the more you will react to it emotionally. It is hard to look away from a well-made commercial. However, the more you see it, the less it draws you in. The curiosity is gone. The answer is in the numbers. Before social media was so prolific and accessible, the Super Bowl offered the largest viewership in media. Last year’s game - Super Bowl LVII – had the largest average viewership of any other Super Bowl. 115 million people watched it. In fact, of the 30 most watched TV shows of all time, 23 are Super Bowls. However, the average number of YouTube users on any given day is 122 million – or 7 million more people than the big game – and you can watch YouTube any time you want.

The larger numbers are one compelling reason Super Bowl ads are released early on platforms like YouTube. But there is another marketing reason: follow-up. Social media makes it very easy to track what a viewer is watching and advertise to them again and again based on their experience. If you watch the E-Trade Babies, you will get more online stock trading services pushed your way. Wherever you click, you are being tracked. TV is getting there with its streaming services, but traditional TV ads are not customized for the viewer. How does marketing really earn its keep? By making connections with consumers who become customers.

So why wait on a big event like the Super Bowl to launch your marketing? There still is a lot of excitement around this game. It still draws massive amounts of people together for an event. Remember that marketing is tasked with capturing the attention of as many target market consumers as possible. The buzz around the Super Bowl does that. So even if your marketing launch happens prior to the game, associating with it still has marketing clout. People are still searching for the most clever commercials at this time in a way they won’t be during the fourth of July. Timing in marketing is key. Wrapping your promotions around a moment when people are seeking them out is an opportunity that happens every year at this time.

Learn a lesson from the people who market their brand during the Super Bowl. Use the marketing medium where more people are going to find you. Track your results and you will be more efficient at selling your brand. Know when the right time to promote has come around for you.