Movies and hashtags go to the Super Bowl and YouTube makes the case for early ad releases

super-bowlA good story finally broke a couple days ago about what movie studios will be advertising their 2013 releases in this Sunday’s Super Bowl. So what movies can we expect to see commercials for?

Universal will show off The Fast and The Furious 6, Paramount will advertise both World War Z and Star Trek Into Darkness and Disney will preview Iron Man 3, The Lone Ranger and Oz. Sitting out the broadcast are Fox, Sony and Warner Bros, despite all three studios having big tentpoles later this year that would be good fits for the game’s audience.

One big part of the advertising that will be done is the inclusion of hashtags, which according to Twitter will appear in half the commercials during this year’s game. The idea here is obviously to start a conversation online but, as I’ve stated before, while such a tactic might generate spur-of-the-moment engagement it’s still unclear what the long term brand value of it is. Especially compared to pointing viewers to an owned platform (ie website) where a stronger brand case can be made.

Meanwhile, there’s been a ton of conversation this year about the viability of releasing Super Bowl commercials early, something that a ton of advertisers have done this year but which seems to be subject to some questioning this time around. Which makes the timing of a new study from YouTube (the platform, of course, most companies release those teasers or full spots on) that claims ads shown before the game broadcast pull in six times the views as spots that aren’t.