Every second Sunday in February, millions of people turn on their TV for one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year. Of course, not everyone watches the Super Bowl for the game. Instead, they watch it for the half-time show, celebrity I-Spy, or the ads. These often wacky commercials catch the eye of viewers around the world. With this global audience, companies pour millions into advertisements that air during the game. This year it cost a little over $7.5 million for a 30-second commercial.
Why such a high price? The publicity. This year around 123 million people watched the Super Bowl, with an estimated 56 million overseas viewers, according to a Reuters article. This means that companies with a Super Bowl ad get a lot of global exposure. In addition, it’s the biggest sporting event in the United States according to Bleacher Report. Companies aren’t afraid to have a big budget on their commercials during the Super Bowl, since they know that they will be reaching millions of potential customers.
Of course, reaching millions of potential customers means nothing if the companies cannot get the attention of their possible consumers. This has led to companies developing a strategy for connecting with customers: getting big name celebrities to appear in advertisements. Famous actors who have appeared in Super Bowl commercials include Jason Momoa, Scarlett Johansson, Danny DeVito, and many others. The chance to spot stars in commercials has made the Super Bowl ads a major reason that over three in ten Americans watch the Super Bowl, according to a 2022 Statista survey.
One advertisement from this year’s Super Bowl was an ad by Michelob ULTRA featuring renowned soccer star Lionel Messi and American football legend Dan Marino. Other ads this year included Verizon with their Beyonce ad, Dunkin’ with an ad featuring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, and Tom Brady, and an Ice Spice appearance in a Starry commercial. These star-studded commercials are not the only way companies hype up Super Bowl ads. Companies often create unusual concepts and humorous scripts to get viewers’ attention, as seen in this year’s Pluto Tv “Couch Potato Farms” ad, and State Farm’s “Agent State Farm” commercial.
These star-studded, eye-catching commercials are not cheap. According to the Wall Street Journal, the average cost for a 30-second commercial for the 2024 game was $7 million. In comparison, a 30-second Super Bowl ad in 1995 cost just over $2 million, even adjusted for inflation. In less than 30 years, the cost tripled. However, companies justify this cost because of their exposure. Paying $7 million for commercial in nothing when it allows them to reach an audience of over 100 million potential customers.
The prices of the commercials also have an effect on people watching them because it builds interest and increases the need for quality ads. High prices and hype forces companies to go all out in order to capture the attention of viewers. When people hear how much the cost of an ad is, they expect quality commercials and want to watch the Super Bowl to see these ads. It’s an even trade for the advertisers, since people who may not be particularly interested in the game have to watch it in order to see the ads, and people who might not want to see the ads have to watch them to watch the game. It’s a type of partnership between the NFL and every advertiser that buys an ad.
Over one in three Americans watches the Super Bowl for the ads. This is what companies want and why they pour millions of dollars each year into a slot less than a minute long. So they make sure they get their money’s worth by hiring A-list celebrities, writing crazy scripts, and hyping up the commercials even before viewers know what teams are playing. Why all this hype for something so short? In a word: publicity.
