Seems to me the last couple of years there haven't been any real "OMG did you see that?" kind of ad during the Super Bowl. Maybe this year will be different.

For most of us, Super Bowl ads make fine entertainment. But for the advertisers who make and buy them, Sunday is white-knuckle time.

The blogging boom has created crowds of armchair critics; the price for a 30-second spot is up again, to $2.7 million; and a writers strike has wiped out many other opportunities to reach mass audiences by putting scripted dramas such as Desperate Housewives on hold.

Even against odds like these, many major marketing powers and even a few first-timers couldn't resist the opportunity of reaching more than 90 million people in a single shot -- something that's increasingly hard to do in any medium.

Advertisers still love the Internet for its ability to deliver measured results from click-throughs and carve audiences into tiny segments. But only the largest of television's "events" -- the Super Bowl, Olympics, Oscars and the Grammys -- have the muscle to pull in tens of millions of people in real time.

"There are so few media vehicles out there that reach that size audience that there's still a big value in not only reaching so many people but in such an engaging manner," said Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast at Carat, a major buyer and planner of advertising.

Add the extra buzz created by the possibility of the New England Patriots making history with an undefeated season, and advertisers have a lot on the line. The placement is great if they have a winning ad, not so great if the ad tanks. Last year's viewership of 93.2 million was close to the all-time record of 94.1 million set in 1996, and many believe that record could be surpassed this year.

The results from online advertising often confirm the value of hitting big audiences with TV, Donchin said, because advertisers can measure the upswing in traffic to Web sites after an ad is broadcast.