Advertising Roundup: Super Bowl Audience Declined; Sex Pistol's Butter Ad; BMW Review; Cliff Freeman Gets Airline; More ...

Super Bowl more expensive for advertisers, got fewer viewers — NBC said it sold out its entire available ad inventory on the Super Bowl last night, notching $206 million, up from $186.3 million sold by News Corp.’s Fox for the 2008 game. The game got 97 million viewers last year, 2009’s Super Bowl reached a more down-to-earth 94.5 million. [Source: Ad Age]

Former Sex Pistol ad lifts butter sales — Dairy Crest today said the campaign, featuring a spiky-haired Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, dressed in tweeds, had helped lift sales of the brand by 85% in the most recent quarter. [Source: Guardian]

Subway endorser Phelps seen smoking pot — A photo of the record-setting-Olympian-turned-mega-endorser smoking marijuana through a bong turned up in the British tabloid News of the World under the screaming headline “What a Dope.” The photo was reportedly taken at a party at the University of South Carolina last November. Subway, whom Phelps endorses, could not be reached for comment. [Source: Ad Age]

BMW cuts to two — BMW has confirmed making a cut in its media review to a pair of finalists: Interpublic Group’s Universal McCann here and the incumbent, Omnicom Group’s GSD&M Idea City in Austin, Texas. The account in play is worth about $200 million. A decision is expected in the next few weeks. [Source: Adweek]

Pfizer shifts Chantix duties to McGarryBowen — Pfizer is shifting creative duties on smoking-cessation drug Chantix to mcgarrybowen from McCann HumanCare, the client confirmed today. Annual ad spending is approximately $60 million. [Source: Adweek]

Cliff Freeman takes on tiny Saudi airline account — MDC Partners’ Cliff Freeman and Partners here said it has been hired by Saudi Arabian Airlines for creative, interactive and media chores. There was no previous U.S. lead agency, and Freeman was chosen following an informal evaluation of shops. In recent years, domestic ad spending by the brand has been modest — clocking in beneath $1 million in both 2007 and ‘08, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. But spending is expected to rise substantially now that Freeman is aboard for a more concerted ad effort. [Source: Adweek]

Brand.net tries to tempt publishers back to online ad networks — The idea behind Brand.net, launched by a couple of ex-Yahoo execs, is that a publisher will give an online ad network high-quality inventory only when it’s clear the network won’t tell advertisers that the publisher is part of the network. That means advertisers don’t know for sure but have to trust that they’re buying quality, premium sites; even the network’s salespeople aren’t quite sure what sites are being used in each campaign they sell. It’s the only way to get premium publishers comfortable using networks again, especially as a worsening economy and increase in supply leads more top inventory to go unsold, said Brand.net CEO Elizabeth Blair. [Source: Ad Age]