The wildly anticipated Las Vegas Sphere finally opened on Friday, and the new 18,600-seat auditorium is bringing advanced LED entertainment to a whole new level.
It launched on September 29, with the first show of U2’s 25-date U2:UV Achtung Baby Live residency, and will debut Darren Aronofsky’s multi-sensory film Postcard From Earth on October 6.
But drawing almost as much attention as the performances on stage are the sky-high advertising costs for any brands that want to take advantage of the record-breaking building’s 1.2 million LED lights on its 580,000 sq ft immersive screen.
Now officially called The Sphere at the Venetian Resort, the project was announced in 2018, in collaboration with Madison Square Garden, and construction got underway in February 2019. However, work was put on hold several times in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and finally resumed in August of that year.
The eventual price tag for the building came to an estimated $2.3 billion.
So MSG clearly has some costs to recoup.
X (formerly known as Twitter) user PitchDeckGuy alleged this week that the Sphere is charging $450,000 for just one day of advertising.
And if you want to increase your coverage to a week, he claimed that cost goes up to $650,000.
The advertising costs to take advantage of the record-breaking building’s 1.2 million lights are breathtaking
The Sphere is located east of The Venetian Resort on the Las Vegas Strip
Several users on X (formerly known as Twitter) responded to PitchDeskGuy and Joe Pompliano’s tweets about the advertising costs since their October 2 release
Another X user, Joe Pompliano, shared the tweet, adding more detail about what you get might for your advertising dollars, saying the prices ‘include working with MSG’s 300+ designers.’
It’s unclear how much U2 spent to advertise their 25-day residency.
Thousands of fans and celebrities attended the opening night, including Paul McCartney, Josh Duhamel, and Oprah Winfrey.
According to PitchDeskGuy’s post, U2’s residency is a ‘key in-market event’ – meaning it’s already hugely popular and is attracting an enormous amount of consumer interest. Other similar events include the 2023 Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix.
U2 confirmed the initial dates for the shows back in May 2023 – their first live performances since 2019.
More than one million fans participated in the Verified Ticket presale following its promotion and announcement, leading Ticketmaster to shut down the link.
The supply and demand tactic did not work in favor of fans who missed the presale, as ticket prices soared from $140 to as much as $1,250.
Prices have since dropped significantly, but as of October, ticket prices range from $322-$545 for the remaining shows.
U2 played opening night at the Sphere on September 29 to kick off the first night of their 25-date residency. Thousands of people were in attendance
Social media users are divided – is it a good deal or do the numbers not add up?
Social media users couldn’t help but be flabbergasted over the alleged advertising prices, but others wondered if they should be even higher.
‘Too high or low?’ asked one, prompting a range of responses.
‘Given how many views the sphere has gotten, this seems like a pretty good deal,’ said one
Taking the construction costs into consideration, another asked: ‘How would they recover the investment? It will take almost 4000+ days even if they are booked daily.’
A user replied: ‘They are booked daily. And 4,000 days is like what, 13 years? That’s like the breakeven point for solar panels.’
One calculated: ‘$2.3 billion ÷ $450k ÷ 365 = 14 yrs – So it’ll take 14 yrs for them to pay back the $2.3 billion?… I’m being overly simplistic obviously.’
And someone else quipped: ‘Do you get a discount for dead pixels appearing in ads?’
Daily Mail has reached out to the Sphere for comment.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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