Apple Music has officially signed a “multi-year partnership agreement” with the NFL to replace Pepsi as the sponsor of the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
The National Football League and rival Spotify recently unveiled their agreement, which is due to “take effect” at Super Bowl LVII on February 12, 2023. On the eve of the big game, Apple Music will publish “exclusive details and a brief overview” on social networks, according to the parties involved.
The NFL also took the opportunity to state that the music platform, which J.P. Morgan believes should reach 110 million subscribers by 2025, “celebrates musicians, songwriters, producers and fans and offers the best music listening experience in the world.”
Although the official release of the companies does not shed light on what role Apple Music can play in choosing Halftime Show artists, promoting events and determining the creative direction of performances, it is worth following the organization’s strategy in the future.
Of course, the Super Bowl Halftime Show, despite paying performers zero salaries, has never encountered difficulties in finding famous talents. And Apple Music, which finances films about artists and pays a number of performers (including Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show performer Mary J. Blige) for exclusive performances and content, apparently, will position himself to benefit from the Super Bowl sets in several ways. .
According to DMN, a ten-year deal with Pepsi Halftime Show was concluded in 2022, and the soft drinks company made it clear that its advertising focus would shift to the digital space.
(However, the business has not stopped marketing to football fans, as two weeks ago Pepsi announced a raffle for “a tiny house in which one lucky person will have the opportunity to live for all 18 weeks of the 2022 NFL season.”)
Moreover, Pepsi’s decision was made after Super Bowl LV received the lowest ratings among all Super Bowls since 1969, although this year Super Bowl LVI, at which Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Eminem and other famous artists performed, was restored in the audience department.
The binding of Apple Music’s Super Bowl Halftime Show comes about six months after FC Barcelona overwhelmingly approved “at least” a 12-season sponsorship deal with Spotify worth more than $300 million.
It is not surprising that, given the controversial price, the Spotify-FC Barcelona trade union extends to several aspects of the football club’s activities. For example, Barcelona Football Club renamed its famous stadium “Spotify Camp Nou”, and the Spotify logo was applied both to training clothes and to the game jerseys of both men’s and women’s teams.
