USA Today looks at the MacGruber spots from Pepsi and Saturday Night Live–which ran Saturday night during SNL and again on Sunday during the Super Bowl–offering a bit of clarity for media consumers who might need it.
…all were paid commercials by Pepsi, made in collaboration with producer Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live. The segments weren’t product placement, but commercials paid for by Pepsi and produced by SNL. Though they appeared to be sketches on SNL, they ran during allotted commercial breaks.
NBC Entertainment Co-Chairman Ben Silverman said Pepsi paid full freight for the spots — which sold for about $3 million per 30-second spot during the Super Bowl.
“What we’re doing is selling entertainment vehicles and marketing platforms,” said Silverman, who has looked for other revenue streams for NBC as network TV ratings have slid. “This is where programming is going.”
BTW, you can follow MacGruber on Twitter, but he prefers the name PepSuber for some reason.
