It pays to get your company's brand in front of more than 100 million sets of eyes at once. But it costs plenty to get that opportunity.
The Super Bowl is always the most-watched event in the United States in a given calendar year, with viewership numbers that have consistently been in the 120 million range in recent years.
Super Bowl 58 figures to be a doozy for viewership numbers. Combine the stage (Super Bowl) with a historic powerhouse (the 49ers), the modern era's latest dynasty (Chiefs), the game's biggest star (Patrick Mahomes) and the nation's most talked-about romance (Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift), and you've got a recipe for ratings.
Of course, most of the Super Bowl commercial spots were sold well before the matchup was set, meaning CBS might not have had the chance to fully capitalize on the Taylor Swift factor.
Don't feel too bad for Paramount, though. How much did they sell each commercial for? Here's what you need to know.
MORE SUPER BOWL 58: Commercials tracker | 25 best ads of all time
How much do Super Bowl commercials cost in 2024?
The cost of a Super Bowl commercial carried the same price tag in 2024 as in 2023: $7 million for 30 seconds of air time, according to NPR.
CBS last carried a Super Bowl in 2021, when the Chiefs and Buccaneers faced off. That year, it cost advertisers $5.5 million for 30 seconds of Super Bowl air time.
How much did Super Bowl commercials cost in 2023?
This marks the second straight year in which a 30-second Super Bowl ad slot cost $7 million, a repeat of the price tag from 2023, when the Chiefs faced the Eagles.
The 2022 Super Bowl featured one of the largest price jumps in recent history. Ads went from costing $5.5 million in 2021 to $6.5 million in 2022, an 18% increase. That marked the largest percentage increase since 2000, when ad costs jumped from $1.6 million in 1999 to $2.1 million in 2000, a 31 percent increase.
The largest percentage increase in Super Bowl ad history came from 1984 to 1985, when ad costs increased from $368,200 to $525,000, a 42.6% increase. The largest dollar figure increase came from 2021 to 2022, when the ad cost went up by $1 million.
MORE SUPER BOWL 58: TV schedule | Halftime show | Ticket prices
How long are Super Bowl commercials?
Typical ad spots tend to be 30 seconds in the Super Bowl. That doesn't mean all ads will be in that range, though. Some will go under that time and run for 15 seconds, while others can range up to one minute.
During the Super Bowl, there are between 80 and 100 commercials that typically run, according to Statista, though there were only 70 during the 2020 Super Bowl.
Networks typically have about 50 minutes to fill with ads, Statista reported, which means they can earn about $700 million worth of 30-second ads.
First Super Bowl commercial cost
It's safe to say the game has changed. There were over 50 million people tuned in to Super Bowl 1 when the Packers topped the Chiefs, according to Sports Media Watch. That number will be more than doubled this year, as it has been for each of the past 14 years.
And with the viewership increases (and inflation), the cost to air a Super Bowl ad has gone up. Super Bowl 1 was carried by both CBS and NBC, and each sold ads at different costs: $42,500 for CBS and $37,500 for NBC, per SuperBowl-ads.com, citing Nielsen Media Research.
The average advertising dollar per viewer in 1966 was $0.002 for both NBC and CBS, meaning it was less than a penny. Last year, it was $0.06, a notable increase of over a nickel per view.
Super Bowl commercial price history
| Year | Price of 30-second commercial |
|---|---|
| 1967 | $37,500 (NBC)/$42,500 (CBS) |
| 1968 | $54,500 |
| 1969 | $55,000 |
| 1970 | $78,200 |
| 1971 | $72,500 |
| 1972 | $86,100 |
| 1973 | $88,100 |
| 1974 | $103,500 |
| 1975 | $107,000 |
| 1976 | $110,000 |
| 1977 | $125,000 |
| 1978 | $162,300 |
| 1979 | $185,000 |
| 1980 | $222,000 |
| 1981 | $275,000 |
| 1982 | $324,300 |
| 1983 | $400,000 |
| 1984 | $368,200 |
| 1985 | $525,000 |
| 1986 | $550,000 |
| 1987 | $600,000 |
| 1988 | $645,500 |
| 1989 | $675,500 |
| 1990 | $700,400 |
| 1991 | $800,000 |
| 1992 | $850,000 |
| 1993 | $850,000 |
| 1994 | $900,000 |
| 1995 | $1,150,000 |
| 1996 | $1,085,000 |
| 1997 | $1,200,000 |
| 1998 | $1,291,100 |
| 1999 | $1,600,000 |
| 2000 | $2,100,000 |
| 2001 | $2,200,000 |
| 2002 | $2,200,000 |
| 2003 | $2,200,000 |
| 2004 | $2,302,200 |
| 2005 | $2,400,000 |
| 2006 | $2,500,000 |
| 2007 | $2,385,365 |
| 2008 | $2,699,963 |
| 2009 | $2,999,960 |
| 2010 | $2,954,010 |
| 2011 | $3,100,000 |
| 2012 | $3,500,000 |
| 2013 | $3,800,000 |
| 2014 | $4,000,000 |
| 2015 | $4,250,000 |
| 2016 | $4,500,000 |
| 2017 | $5,000,000 |
| 2018 | $5,200,000 |
| 2019 | $5,300,000 |
| 2020 | $5,600,000 |
| 2021 | $5,500,000 |
| 2022 | $6,500,000 |
| 2023 | $7,000,000 |
Source: SuperBowl-ads.com (Nielsen Media Research)
