One of the largest cruise lines in the world — and one of fastest-growing cruise lines in the United States — is making a big splash in front of more than 100 million people.
MSC Cruises has announced that it will air a 60-second Super Bowl during Super Bowl LIX, set to be played February 9.
It’s not yet known exactly what the ad will look like, but the cruise lines says that it will include “two yet-to-be-revealed celebrities traveling on the cruise line’s upcoming flagship MSC World America.”
2025 Looks to Be a HUGE Year for MSC
This will be the cruise line’s first Super Bowl ad, and the timing is no coincidence. The coming year represents a major step forward for the line in North America. While MSC is well known across Europe, its presence has been significantly smaller in the United States. That will change in 2025.
MSC Cruises will see the opening of a new departure port as it is scheduled to start sailing from Galveston, Texas in November, giving it a fourth major port in the U.S. This will also be the first departure port not on the east coast. (Port Canaveral, Miami, and New York already serve as departure ports for the line.)
In addition, a brand-new cruise terminal at the Port of Miami is slated for an April 2025 opening.
But the even bigger news is the introduction of MSC World America. We’ve discussed this ship in detail before. The massive new vessel will be the largest cruise ship in the world that’s not owned by Royal Caribbean. It will have seven different districts onboard, 19 different dining options, an outdoor promenade, and even a thrill ride that literally swings you over the side of the ship (aptly named Cliffhanger).
This ship is sure to make a splash when it starts sailing in April, just a couple of months after the new Super Bowl ad.
In fact, this minute-long ad on America’s biggest stage will actually be the start of a nationwide campaign to highlight MSC, so expect to see more from the cruise line. It has already announced it is the title sponsor of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix held in Austin, Texas — another major event that should make the line even more prominent in North America.
$14 Million for 60 Seconds?
And while we might not know exactly what we’ll see in the Super Bowl commercial — including who those two celebrities will be — we do know that this will be an expensive investment. Sure, a new cruise ship might cost more than $1 billion to build, but an ad during the biggest TV event of the year is nothing to scoff at.
According to NPR, last year’s game fetched about $7 million for a 30-second spot, or about $235,000 per second. If those numbers hold, that means the airtime alone will cost roughly $14 million. But that’s just part of the cost to produce a high-budget commercial, especially one with celebrity appearances.
You can safely assume that this spot will cost tens of millions to produce and air.
However, given the growth of the cruise industry and the growth of MSC Cruises in particular, this sort of investment to capture the interest of new passengers could be well worth the expense.
There’s no word yet on when during the game the new ad will air, but we’ll definitely be watching for it.
