Super Bowl Spots: The Cost of Being Seen

By breaking its audience record for the third consecutive time last year, the Super Bowl has cemented its status as an advertising blockbuster, where brands vie for a slice of the most coveted and expensive airtime on U.S. television. In 2026, one minute of advertising during the Big Game could command a staggering $15 to $20 million, a price tag that reflects the event's unparalleled ability to captivate over 120 million viewers in the U.S. alone. This massive audience, combined with the Super Bowl's cultural significance, transforms ads into must-watch content, often sparking as much conversation as the game itself.

As our chart shows, there has been a clear upward trend in the value of Super Bowl advertising, the average cost of a 30-second ad rising from $4.3 million in 2015 to $8.0 million by 2025 and 2026 (an increase well over twice the pace of inflation). After steady increases through the late 2010s, prices jumped sharply again in the 2020s: climbing from $5.5 million in 2021 to $6.5 million in 2022, then $7.0 million in 2023 and 2024, before hitting the current high. A look at the “all-time most expensive” spots broadcast during the event also underscores how recent the biggest spending has been: Amazon’s “Mind Reader” (2022) tops the ranking at $26 million, followed by Cadillac’s “ScissorHandsFree” and General Motors’ “No Way Norway” (2021) at each $22 million. Amazon’s “Before Alexa” and Google’s “Loretta” (2020), both at nearly $17 million, close out the top 5.