NBC will charge $3 million for 30-second Super Bowl ad

General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal plans to charge advertisers $3 million for a 30-second spot during next year's Super Bowl.

The price exceeds the average $2.7 million News Corp.'s Fox got for a 30-second ad in this year's football championship game. Brian Walker, a spokesman for NBC, confirmed the rate, which was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

The Feb. 3 Super Bowl, where the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots, attracted a record 97.5 million viewers. Fox sold 90 percent of its ad space two months before the game as marketers favored live programs that viewers are less likely to skip with digital recorders. Ads purchased after Hollywood writers went on strike Nov. 5 fetched as much as $3 million.