Washington, January 23, 2008– Though Americans may be watching their pennies on everyday items, millions of consumers refuse to cut corners for the Super Bowl. According to the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association’s 2008 Super Bowl Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, sales on televisions and furniture will increase over last year in anticipation of football’s biggest day.

 

This year, consumers plan to purchase 3.9 million televisions for Super Bowl Sunday, up more than 50 percent from 2.5 million last year. In addition, viewers plan to purchase 1.8 million pieces of furniture, up from 1.3 million last year. Young adults 18-24 will be outspending other consumers as one in ten (9.8%) of these viewers plans to purchase a television and one in twenty (4.9%) will buy new furniture.

 

The survey found that 158 million people will watch the Super Bowl this year. Consumers plan on spending an average of $59.90 on Super Bowl-related merchandise, up from last year’s $56.04. Total spending for the February 5 Super Bowl is expected to reach $9.5 billion.

 

“Smart shoppers hold off on major purchases like televisions and entertainment centers until retailers are offering special discounts and promotions,” said RAMA Executive Director Mike Gatti. “After a lackluster holiday season, retailers will be courting consumers with their very best deals on electronics, furniture, and even food in anticipation of the Super Bowl.”

 

According to the survey, 70.0 percent of consumers plan to watch the Super Bowl, relatively unchanged from the 69.7 percent who watched it last year. Of those that will be watching the game, 67.4 percent will be purchasing food and beverages and 6.0 percent will buy team apparel and accessories.

 

“Though this year’s teams are both from the Northeast, people across the country will be watching the Super Bowl for entertainment,” said Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy for BIGresearch. ”For many Americans, there is nothing better than watching football with friends and family—especially if they’re also showing off a new TV.”

 

While most viewers say the game itself is still the most important part of the Super Bowl (46.7%), 41.5 million consumers (36.3%) will tune in because of the commercials. Most viewers said they view Super Bowl advertisements as entertainment (75.7%), though a small percentage think they make the game last too long (11.1%) or that they are bothersome (4.3%). Almost one in five (18.0%) Super Bowl viewers wish that, when it came to advertising, companies would just save their money and pass the savings along to shoppers.

 

Retailers catering to young adults should be encouraged by survey findings that 18-24 year-olds are twice as likely as other groups to say that Super Bowl advertisements encourage them to buy products from the advertisers (12.6% vs. 6.1% average). 
 

The Retail Advertising and Marketing Association's 2008 Super Bowl Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the Super Bowl. The survey was conducted for RAMA by BIGresearch. The poll of 8,447 consumers was conducted from January 2-8, 2008 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.

BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch’s syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 7,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.
 

The Retail Advertising & Marketing Association, a division of the National Retail Federation, is a trade association of over 1500 retail marketing and advertising executives, plus their supporting partners from the advertising agency, media and service-provider areas. RAMA sponsors the annual Retail Advertising Conference, the largest single gathering of retail marketing and advertising professionals in the industry today. RAMA also produces the RACie Awards, the most prestigious creative contest in retail. www.rama-nrf.org