Super Bowl set to break US advertising records

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Super Bowl 2024 is set to be the biggest ever for advertising in the US as the world’s largest brands spend an estimated $650mn on securing TV slots around the game on Sunday. 

Top advertisers are expected to pay about $7mn for 30 seconds of advertising during Super Bowl LVIII, an increase of about 10 per cent on last year’s event, according to Dentsu, the global advertising agency. 

Dentsu estimates that the game will mark a bumper weekend for Paramount — which has the rights to show the game this year in the US and is broadcasting it on CBS and Nickelodeon. Paramount is expected to net the more than $650mn in TV ad revenues, according to Dentsu.

Brands will spend millions more on producing ads, which are often among the most watched of the year and widely shared on social media. This year companies have snared big-name celebrities such as Lionel Messi, Jennifer Aniston, Kris Jenner and Christopher Walken in a bid to stand out among the dozens of ads that will flood the game.

The game between the San Francisco 49ers and defending champions Kansas City Chiefs is also expected to draw an audience boost from Taylor Swift. Her relationship with Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce — and the expectation of her attendance at the Super Bowl — has attracted interest from different sorts of brands hoping that many of her fans will watch too, bringing in more young and female viewers.

Paramount said in November that the advertising was already “virtually sold out”. The company declined to comment on Friday.

In the US, Super Bowl ad breaks are national entertainment in their own right, and a showcase for the power and reach of the traditional TV commercial. The costly price for a 30-second slot means marketers scale up the production budget for the ads themselves, often hiring A-list celebrities. Super Bowl commercials have previously put emerging brands on the map, including Apple Computer in 1984.

However, ad executives say that such large-scale events are becoming less essential for many brands, which see the chance to target Gen Z audiences via TikTok or Instagram as more significant than the traditional beer-drinking couch surfers of the Super Bowl.

This year, many of the brands are using social channels and influencers to augment their TV ads, with campaigns running up to the event on various digital platforms. Cara Lewis, chief investment officer at Dentsu, said “things can go viral” as a result of such campaigns.

Paramount is also looking to attract younger viewers by simultaneously showing the game on Nickelodeon, a cable network for children’s entertainment, with colour commentary and analysis by animated characters from SpongeBob SquarePants.

The broadcast will feature most of the same commercials as CBS but feature separate brands for children, like toy makers, instead of ads from beer or sports betting companies. Many brands bought a multimedia package that included CBS and Nickelodeon as well as Paramount+.

Lewis said the Super Bowl offered brands “mass scale and engagement” with consumers, who actually seek out the better ads rather than switch over during the break. 

Rob Reilly, chief creative officer of WPP, said it would be the biggest year yet for the Super Bowl — which is already the biggest sporting event in the US. He said that more than 100mn people watched the Super Bowl, and many “people tune in to see the advertising as much as the game”.

Reilly added that many brands started their campaigns weeks ago, using social media, teaser ads and influencers to prepare a build-up to the main event. “It’s part of pop culture.”

Top brands advertising around the game include BMW, Doritos and Nerds. The exact amounts they will pay depend on their deals and what is covered under the arrangements. 

Budweiser has produced a nostalgic ad featuring a team of Clydesdale horses and a Labrador making a beer delivery. Michelob Ultra has signed up Lionel Messi, while the Uber Eats ad features Jennifer Aniston.

Microsoft is returning to advertising around the Super Bowl, with a spot on its AI product, Copilot. Unilever’s Hellmann’s mayonnaise is using Saturday Night Live actress Kate McKinnon in an ad featuring a Mayo cat.

To match the reach of a Super Bowl ad in 2023, executives say that an advertiser would have had to buy 400+ primetime spots at more than 3x the cost of one Super Bowl ad.

However, Nataly Kelly, chief marketing officer of consumer insights agency Zappi, said that the expensive TV slots should not be the only target: “Too many brands are spending $7mn per Super Bowl ad for the status symbol of the slot and bragging rights, without tying it back to their overall investment strategy.”