Regardless of whether the New England Patriots or the Atlanta Falcons win the Super Bowl Sunday, the local Fox television affiliate, WTVC 9.2 , is already a winner, station manager Mike Costa said Friday.
The local Fox TV station sold out of its available commercial slots for the entire day Sunday even with premium rates charged during what is traditionally the most watched TV show of the year.
"We're sold out Sunday, not just during the game itself but the entire day," said Costa, general manager for Sinclair Broadcasting Co. in Chattanooga, which owns WTVC 9.2, along with the WTVC-TV and WFLI-TV. "This is the largest reaching vehicle for advertising each year and it's also the biggest revenue opportunity for any television station that carries the Super Bowl."
Chattanooga's biggest publicly traded company, Unum Group, will be among the local advertisers during the Super Bowl in Chattanooga, where its corporate headquarters is located and where it employs 2,800 workers, and in Portland, Maine, where Unum was previously based and still employs about 2,500 workers.
Unum CEO Rick McKenney said Friday the Chattanooga-based insurance giant is eager to let more people in its hometown know about the value of the insurance protection Unum provides to 34 million workers and individuals throughout the country.
"Most people in Chattanooga may know the Unum name, but we want them to know more about our company and the value we provide to this community, to our employees and to our customers," McKenney said. "I don't know that we will necessarily sell more policies because of these particular ads. But we do want the communities where we have such a big presence to understand more about our company and the value of what we offer."
Unum spokeswoman Kelly Spencer said the company is advertising during the Super Bowl for the first time in years, with its commercial highlighting the range of services provided by Unum.
"People in our community don't always know what Unum does, so this ad really raises awareness about who we are and what we do," she said.
Costa declined to disclose the cost of local commercial time during the Super Bowl.
"But I can tell you we love having the game on Fox this year," he said.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.