Local hospitals run Super Bowl ads

Local hospitals bought ads that ran during the Super Bowl on Sunday, hoping to catch the eye of viewers tuned in to one of the most watched annual television events.

Kettering Health Network, Premier Health, and Dayton Children’s Hospital both ran ads — locally, not nationally — during the Sunday night football game.

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It is one of the rare TV events that draws in people just to see the commercials, attracting advertisers willing to pay top dollar to reach a large, engaged audience.

Nielson’s rating for the annual NFL game was down about 3 percent from the year before and viewership for the season is down about 10 percent.

The two Dayton-based organizations weren’t the only Ohio health care providers to air commercials during the game. St. Elizabeth’s Healthcare of Greater Cincinnati ran a 60-second commercial, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, and The Christ Hospital Health Network, also based in Cincinnati, had an ad spot.

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The non-profits did not disclose how much they spent on the advertisements. Premier said the cost of the ad was proprietary information and Dayton Children’s said it would not divulge the cost because it is part of a bigger package deal.

Kettering Health stated it has ran an ad every year since 2013.

Premier’s ad spot highlighted its heart health efforts.

“Given our target audience, we knew that promoting these services during the Super Bowl would be a great way to get the message out,” Premier spokesman Ben Sutherly stated.

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Grace Jones, Dayton Children’s consumer brand manager, said in a world where people are continuing to stream their TV content more and more, live sports like the Super Bowl are often the best place to get eyes on the hospital’s commercials.

She said commercial that ran last night is part of a bigger campaign that called “Tall Tales,” in that show what really happened to a patients but the story is told in the words of a child.

Dayton Children’s bought the ad spot as part of a larger package with other spots throughout the day and digital elements. The ad campaign also includes a commercial that will air during the upcoming Olympics.

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