Patriots-Colts Showdown a Huge Opportunity for Advertisers

The Super Bowl isn't until February. But when you have the 8-0 New England Patriots against the 7-0 Indianapolis Colts, that's exactly what you've got here in November.

CBS' broadcast of Patriots-Colts this Sunday is getting as much as $500,000 per 30-second ad, which compares to the $2.7 million Fox received for the most recent Super Bowl ads.

That "may be a steal for advertisers," according to Theresa Howard of USA Today. since Sunday afternoon's game may draw "an average of more than 30 million viewers, 50 percent more than games typically draw in the regular season." Make no mistake, this game is huge. It's hard to imagine a Super Bowl with more allure than this matchup.

CBS has sold out of its ad inventory for the game.

Citi, Nike, Sprint and MasterCard, which will run ads featuring Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, have all bought time during the game. Snickers will run pre- and post-game ads, and characters from the company's "Feast" campaign will attend a tailgating party at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

The Colts, who rallied to beat the Patriots 38-34 when the last teams met in January's AFC title game, went on to win their first Super Bowl.

Television viewers will assuredly watch in droves to see how this showdown evolves. Talk about a bonanza in the making.