Super Bowl Ad Landscape Transformed... AI and Big Tech Take Center Stage

The Prestige of a 10-Million-Dollar, 30-Second Ad
Regular Advertiser Automakers See Their Presence "Shrink"

Artificial intelligence (AI) companies and big tech firms turned out in force for commercials during the Super Bowl, the National Football League (NFL) championship game. In contrast, the share of automobile manufacturers, long-time regulars at the event, declined, which analysts attribute in part to cost issues.

View of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, United States, where the 60th Super Bowl was held. Photo by Reuters/Yonhap

According to AP and CNBC on the 9th (local time), the price of a 30-second commercial during this year’s Super Bowl is 8 million dollars (11.7 billion won). Some companies spent as much as 10 million dollars.

The cost of Super Bowl commercials has continued to rise over time. When the first Super Bowl was held in 1967, a 30-second spot cost only 37,500 dollars, but that figure climbed to 700,000 dollars in the 1990s. In the 2000s it reached 2 million dollars, in the 2010s it jumped to between 3 million and 4 million dollars, and in the 2020s it has exceeded 7 million dollars.

As the Super Bowl boasts the largest viewership of any single sporting event in the United States, interest in advertising is also high. More than 100 million people in the U.S. alone watch the game. For advertisers, it is seen as an opportunity to etch their brand into viewers’ minds at once. Last year’s Super Bowl drew a combined TV and streaming audience of 127.7 million in the United States.

This year’s Super Bowl ads were dominated by AI. Big tech companies such as Google, Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic, as well as smaller AI firms like Genspark and Wix, joined as advertisers. Foreign media analyzed this as a move to secure brand recognition amid intensifying competition in AI technology. As the AI market rapidly expands, public trust and perception have become as important as technological prowess. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) noted that commercials promoting AI-based products outnumbered traditional categories such as automobiles and beer in this year’s Super Bowl ads, and said they presented a vision of a more proactive future.

Automakers, traditionally considered “regulars” in Super Bowl advertising, sharply reduced their presence this year. According to ad-effectiveness analytics firm iSpot, automobile manufacturers accounted for 40% of Super Bowl ad time in 2012, but their share plunged to 7% last year. CNBC projected that General Motors (GM), Toyota, and Volkswagen would be among the few automakers to advertise during the game. This is seen as a result of growing uncertainty in the auto industry. CNBC explained, “This disruption began in 2020 with COVID-19 and supply chain issues,” adding, “More recently, new tariffs and a pullback in electric vehicle (EV) strategies have saddled companies with cost burdens amounting to billions of dollars.”

Meanwhile, in the 60th Super Bowl held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 29-13. It was the second Super Bowl championship in the Seahawks’ franchise history.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.