How much does a Super Bowl ad cost in 2024?
The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched sporting events of the year.
Even those who are not avid football watchers or fans of the NFL can find something to watch and enjoy tonight, whether that be the halftime show where Usher is performing this year, or laughing at the advertisements shown during breaks in the game.
Why do companies want to advertise at the Super Bowl?
Because of how many people watch the event every year, with an estimated 100 million people watching the 2023 Super Bowl, it has become a large deal for companies to purchase one of the rare advertisement slots.
“Even though a Super Bowl advertising campaign might not pay immediately in hard dollars and cents, if a business can afford to produce one of these stellar spots, they stand to earn new customers and build awareness on a scale unmatched by other outlets,” Peter Koeppel, founder and president of marketing agency Koeppel Direct said in 2019.
“Good or bad, though, impactful Super Bowl ads are the ones that are getting talked about. What a marketer can’t afford is an ad that completely fails to deliver. Because the Super Bowl is also sort of a Super Bowl of marketing, the competition is fierce – the commercials have to be memorable for them to pay off in the long run.
“An ad that doesn’t give viewers something, for better or worse, won’t be a profitable one,” he continued.
What kind of brands get Super Bowl commercials and what are the rules?
Brands were ready for the massive turnout, as Fox Sports revealed in September 2022 that it had already nearly sold out its commercial inventory. At the time, Mark Evans, executive vice president of ad sales for Fox Sports, estimated that Fox had five or fewer 30-second spots left to fill, according to Variety.
This year, Super Bowl LVIII will be on CBS and streaming on Paramount +. In November 2023, the Hollywood Reporter reported that the network had sold out all of its Super Bowl commercial time slots, and had wanted $7m for one 30-second long ad.
However, the 30-second limit hasn’t stopped brands from bending the rules before. Back in 2021, Reddit spent its entire ad budget on the shortest-ever Super Bowl commercial.
The social media and news platform’s commercial lasted for just five seconds and urged viewers to pause their TVs to read it.
How much do Super Bowl ads cost this year?
The price of a 30-second Super Bowl advert this year was $5.5m, according to Variety, which would put the cost of Reddit’s advert at $915,000.
“If you’re reading this, it meant our bet paid off. Big game spots are expensive, so we couldn’t buy a full one. But we were inspired and decided to spend our entire marketing budget on five seconds of airtime,” the ad said, before listing some of the things users can learn on Reddit, such as more information about owls.
“Powerful things happen when people rally around something they really care about. And there’s a place for it. It’s called Reddit,” the ad concluded.
Shorter ads have appeared on local networks in the past. In 2009, MillerHigh Life was blocked out by Budweiser’s exclusive Super Bowl deal and brought up one-second increments of advertising time on regional NBC affiliates carrying the game.
Super Bowl LVIII will be played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, tonight (11 February). Follow live here.
