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Get that onion dip ready. The Super Bowl is one month away, which really just means the Super Bowl’s 🎉 advertising news extravaganza 🎉 is just now kicking off (…get it? Sorry).
While there’s still plenty of time for teases, celebrity announcements, and last-minute media buys, we wanted to compile everything we know about the game—and its ads—so far.
The game: The game will air on Sunday, Feb. 11 on CBS, which was reportedly asking advertisers to cough up between $6.5 million and $7 million for 30-second ads, according to Variety. Plenty of advertisers bit, and inventory was “virtually sold out” as of early November. In fact, it had sold 90% of its inventory by the end of August, which is unusually early.
In addition to airing on CBS, the game will also be simulcast on Paramount+, the NFL’s mobile app, and for the first time, TelevisaUnivision, which will air a Spanish-language broadcast. Nickelodeon will air an alternative telecast of the game, with the aim of creating “a slime-filled festival that will bring a new and younger and even more diverse audience to the NFL,” CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said last August.
The brands: Apple Music is again sponsoring the halftime show, and this year’s will feature a performance by Usher. Other brands committed to the game include BMW, M&Ms, TurboTax, and Pringles, according to Ad Age.
While we probably won’t see another celeb-filled Crypto Bowl, viewers can still expect to see plenty of celeb cameos. So far, Rob Gronkowski is expected to return in an ad for FanDuel, and Ice Spice will make her Super Bowl ad debut in a spot for soft-drink brand Starry, according to Ad Age. Uh, do Neanderthals count? Geico is currently running a campaign featuring its Caveman mascot, but wouldn’t confirm to Adweek whether it would extend to the Super Bowl.
First-timers to the broadcast include Drumstick, Etsy, Nerds, and *checks notes* Martin Scorsese, who Squarespace tapped to direct his first Super Bowl ad.
There’s no word yet on whether Anheuser Busch—which relinquished its exclusive advertising rights last year—will return, but automakers Ford, GM, and Stellantis have all said they’re sitting this year out, according to the Detroit News.
(BTW, it’s an election year. In 2020, former President Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg spent about $10 billion each on 60-second ads that ran during the game, according to the New York Times. As of now, don’t expect any presidential campaign ad buys.)
Heard it sphere first: Get ready to see a whole lotta Sphere—It’s Vegas’s first time hosting the Super Bowl, and the city’s destination marketing organization is encouraging “excessive celebration,” in an ad campaign. We’re sure that’ll age well.
+1: Ever wonder who’s ranking all these ads? Last year, we spoke with the folks behind USA Today’s Ad Meter, which has rated every ad in every game for more than 30 years.
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