It’s no question that the Super Bowl remains the most-watched night in television, but do companies really see the return from dropping millions on a 30-second ad?
Here’s a little history lesson, courtesy of our colleagues at Parade.
Transcript:
Just how much does a Super Bowl ad cost in 2025? If you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it… just kidding, but you really probably can’t.
According to USA Today, a 30-second commercial during Super Bowl 58 cost $7 million. And according to Variety, that price is the same for ads in Super Bowl 59. No inflation here, apparently.
This is actually the third year in a row that the coveted ad spots have cost a cool $7 million.
For comparison, ads that run during the NFL’s Sunday Night Football run $882,079, according to Sports Business Journal.
Still more money than most of us regular people can comprehend, but quite a bit less than that coveted Super Bowl slot.
Meanwhile, if we take a look back to the very first Super Bowl in the 1960s those ad spots were $37,500. If you adjust that for inflation that’s roughly $360,000 in today’s money. The Super Bowl ads didn’t hit the million dollar mark until 1995. That year they clocked in at $1.15 million for a 30 second ad spot.
The cost has continued to rise over the years, but the biggest ever jump in cost was between 2021 and 2022 when the pricing went from $5.5 million to $6.5 million for a 30 second spot.
You might be wondering whether it’s worth it to throw down this much money for 30 seconds of air time. Keep in mind, the price of these ad spots still doesn’t factor in the added costs of production and talent.
According to research from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, the payoff from these ads isn’t immediate. While brands do tend to see an immediate boost in clicks and website traffic, it takes awhile for the sales to come through. It’s definitely a long game play in terms of brand recognition.
Some of the most memorable commercials of all time have initially aired during the Super Bowl. Apple’s (AAPL) “1984” commercial was a fairly big risk, featuring a dystopian future where no one could think for themselves. It was considered to be so risky, in fact, that Apple’s board of directors tried to stop it from airing. But hey, we’re still talking about it today over 40 years later so it seems like it worked.
Pepsi (PEP) has had a few ultra-memorable Super Bowl commercials over the years, including their 2004 ad with Beyoncé, Britney Spears and Pink, dressed as Roman gladiators, singing “We Will Rock You” in the actual Colosseum.
At the end of the day, if brand recognition is your goal, then you’re sure to get plenty of eyeballs with a Super Bowl ad spot.
The 2024 Super Bowl was the most watched television program in all of history. Nielsen ratings showed that the Super Bowl saw 210 million viewers in 2024. We may be able to thank the Taylor Swift effect for that one.
Will the numbers be even better in 2025? Time will tell, but seeing as Taylor Swift is expected to be cheering on her boyfriend Travis Kelce in the stands once again, the odds are looking good for those Nielsen ratings.
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