This Sunday, the country celebrates its biggest unofficial holiday: Super Bowl Sunday. And that brings a bonanza of opportunity for marketers.

The NFL championship game is the most-watched program on television every year and draws the highest advertising rates. In the past decade, those rates have reached staggering numbers, even by the Super Bowl’s mega-standards. Marketers who want to get in on this year’s edition are writing bigger checks than ever before.

In the past decade, the average cost of a 30-second Super Bowl spot has increased by 75% while the total ad spend has more than doubled, according to research by Kantar Media. The cost of a 30-second spot during the 2005 Patriots/Eagles Super Bowl was $2.4 million. Last year’s Seahawks/Broncos game cost $4.2 million. This year, a 30-second spot is running at about $4.5 million. The total ad spend of that 2005 Super Bowl was $158 million, while last year’s game was nearly $332 million.

More unconvention and first-time advertisers will be making a splash in this year’s game. With no better venue in American media to build a company’s brand recognition, some companies are willing to shell out a huge proportion of their annual ad budget to do so. Last year, six sponsors put at least 10% of their yearly budget into the Super Bowl, according to Kantar. Soda Stream International spent nearly 40% of their annual budget on Super Bowl ad buys. Nearly a quarter of all ads airing during last year’s game came from first-time sponsors. This year 15 new sponsors are expected, according to NBC, including Carnival Cruise Lines and online Web site builder Wix.com.

“It’s the world’s largest marketing stage and we believe we have the right story to tell,” Carnival Corp. VP of Group Marketing Ken Jones told USA Today last month, as the cruise line looks to improve its image after a PR disaster two years ago.

Kantar expects automakers, omnipresent advertisers in every Super Bowl, to have a slightly smaller footprint this year following announcements that Jaguar and Volkswagen will not be participating in the big game. Still, for a category that led the way with a whopping $113 million in ad spending last year, expect to see plenty of sleek rides this year once again.

With a few exceptions, most of the heavy hitters will be back. Over the last five years, Anheuser-Busch and Chrysler have spent the most on the Super Bowl, followed by Pepsico, Hyundai and Volkswagen. Those five brands have combined to spend more than $450 million, or 35% of the total ad revenue over that span. Pepsico has created a marketing presence throughout the week, with huge crop circles appearing in fields near Phoenix that tie in to the brand’s Super Bowl ad. Pepsi is also sponsoring Katy Perry’s halftime show.

Whatever the cost to advertisers, the amount of eyeballs is unparalleled in American television. Last year’s Super Bowl set a record as the country’s top TV broadcast in history, with 111.5 million average viewers and 167 million total viewers. It’s the fourth time in five years the Super Bowl has set viewership records.

Unsurprisingly for a league that seems to get bigger every year, the NFL is promising its digital media coverage of the big game will be the most comprehensive you’ll find anywhere.

Starting Wednesday and airing through Friday, NFL Digital Media is streaming Super Bowl Live on NFL.com, SuperBowl.com, NFL Now, NFL Mobile and Xbox One. Shot live from the Super Bowl XLIX Media Center, the show features player and celebrity interviews with a quartet of NFL hosts. Verizon FiOS is the show’s presenting sponsor.

On the buzzier side of things, for the first time, NFL Media has set up a Social Media Command Center (also sponsored by Verizon) that is being run in partnership with the Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.

Located at the Phoenix Convention Center, the command center is monitored with the help of more than 150 ASU students to highlight the latest trending topics and social media buzz. NFL Network and Super Bowl Live will air daily hits from the social media center, which is also available to tourists and fans visiting Phoenix ahead of the big game.

Verizon and the NFL continue to build out a huge multi-platform partnership around the Super Bowl. Verizon customers with a premium subscription and those with Verizon MORE Everything can download the NFL Mobile app, which gives fans access to the live stream of the Super Bowl broadcast on NBC plus NFL Network’s Super Bowl content. NFL Mobile is also making a for purchase Audio Pass version of Super Bowl play-by-play available on iOS, Android, Windows 8 and Blackberrys.

Fans looking for more interactive features can download the Super Bowl XLIX Official Game Program through Windows Surface, iPad and Android devices. The app has animated starting lineups, sortable rosters and a complete history of the Super Bowl.

NFL.com and SuperBowl.com will hook up with NBC Sports Live Extra’s Super Bowl stream for desktops and tablets. Streaming of the game is available to international fans via NFL Game Pass.

Speaking of the fans, marketing experts say they will be the key factor in determining the monetary success of the Super Bowl on Arizona.

“Seattle and New England fans will end up determining [if] the overall economic impact to Arizona is going to be a bang or a bust,” said Goviva President Robert Tuchman, in an email.

Tuchman helps organize corporate trips to the game, including tickets, accommodations and transportation.

“Phoenix will see an influx of corporate interest since Boston and Seattle boast many corporate headquarters,” he writes.

Patriots fans have not traditionally been known as great travelers to the Super Bowl, in part because the team has been there so many times in the last 15 years. Seattle fans have been a huge draw this year, after turning out in less-than-expected numbers last year, according to ESPN’s Darren Rovell.

Tuchman says hotel availability is expectedly limited and many fans are turning to Airbnb and VRBO, where home rentals are going for more than $10,000 for the week. Tickets to the game aren’t much cheaper. ESPN reported that as of Thursday morning the cheapest ticket on the secondary market is now going for nearly $9,000.

The game itself has the makings of a potential classic. With Tom Brady and the Patriots looking for their fourth Lombardi trophy against a brash and dominant Seattle defense and Seattle themselves hoping for a second straight title, a repeat of last year’s blowout seems unlikely. Add to that the deflated balls saga that just won’t die and two of the most polarizing franchises in the league and it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to say viewer records could be shattered once more.

Photo Credit: Perry Knotts/NFL

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