The NFT Super Bowl Ad That Gave You $700

News

By RC Staff

16 February 2023

Key Points:

• NFT gaming company Limit Break spent $6.5 million to air a 30 second ad during Super Bowl LVII

• The ad promoted NFT project DigiDaigaku’s new Rare Dragons collection

• Viewers that scanned a QR code shown on the ad were able to claim a free NFT that was reselling later that day for $700

Item

Blockchain

700

Profit

This is the difference between the sale price and resell price. It does not take into account any costs associated with reselling. Things like shipping, storage fees, if applicable.

DigiDaigaku Rare Dragon Eggs

These NFTs were released for free during a 2023 Super Bowl ad aired by NFT gaming company Limit Break.

What was the deal with the NFT Super Bowl ad?

If you’re one of those people that pays more attention to the ads than the big game, then 2023 was your year. 

During one of Super Bowl LVII’s ad breaks, NFT gaming company Limit Break aired a 30 second ad for their project DigiDaigaku’s Rare Dragons collection. 

The bulk of the 3d animated ad spot was dominated by a QR code inlaid on the center of a large golden treasure, with the words “SCAN NOW” visible overhead. 

Usually, ads asking you to scan something don’t make you money. But this particular ad was an exception, giving quick viewers that scanned it a free digital collectible worth over $700. While 2022’s Coinbase Super Bowl ad made waves for utilizing the QR code to give away $15 cash bonuses to new platform users, Limit Break’s 2023 ad certainly takes the cake in terms of freebies offered during the Super Bowl. 

Could you actually mint an NFT during the Super Bowl?

A total of 5,000 free DigiDaigaku Dragon Eggs NFTs were available once the ad aired. Viewer needed to scan the shown QR code which would redirect them to a webpage with a large red “Mint Now!” button. 

While the NFT Super Bowl ad was visible to 113 million people, it is reasonable to assume that nearly all of the NFTs went to people fans of the Digidaigaku project that were prepared in advance. For starters, viewers would need to connect the MetaMask crypto wallet to the claim website in order to mint the NFT, which even many native crypto users don’t use on their mobile phone (and most people don’t bring their PCs to Super Bowl parties). 

Another factor that majorly impacted one’s ability to claim was lag time of the platform they were using to watch the game. When viewing a live game, over-the-air broadcasts reign supreme with a typical latency of 1 second. For the 2023 game, the Fox Sports app was the quickest streaming service by far, with only a 1 second delay over OTA. Watching on standard cable, the game was delayed by roughly 18 seconds over OTA. Platforms like the NFL App, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV  all ranged in delay from 30 to 60 seconds.

Given that all 5,000 free Dragon Egg NFTs were minted in under 45 seconds, anyone watching on platforms other than OTA, the Fox Sports app, or cable didn’t even see the ad until it was already completely sold out. 

Was the Super Bowl NFT valuable?

The first 5,000 people that clicked the “Mint Now!” button on DigiDaigaku’s website received their free Dragon Eggs NFT into their MetaMask wallet. From there, it was as easy as heading to a digital collectible marketplace like OpenSea and either listing it directly or accepting a pre-existing collection offer. 

Within the first few hours of the ad airing, the DigiDaigaku Dragon Eggs were selling for an average price of 0.45 Ethereum each, or about $750. In the days following, the aftermarket price dropped down to around $400. A lot of people have purchased these digital items on the aftermarket. As of February 15th, more than $2.2m in volume has been transacted for the collection on OpenSea alone. 

Looks like some Super Bowl ads are worth watching after all.