What other advertising could you purchase for the price of a Super Bowl ad?

A 30-second ad at the US sporting event costs up to $7 million

Key points:

• With an average length of 30 seconds per ad, Super Bowl advertising spots sold for up to $7 million in 2023.
• Despite their high cost, Super Bowl advertising delivers a captive audience and increased brand awareness, as well as an average return on investment of $4.60 per dollar spent.
• Nonetheless, $7 million is a huge amount that would enable marketers to purchase a lot of advertising elsewhere.

One of the biggest sporting events in the world, the Super Bowl is taking place this Sunday. More than 100 million people will be tuning in to not only enjoy the game but also watch the half-time show and the Super Bowl ads.

This creates a great opportunity for marketers, but Super Bowl advertising time is expensive. During the event, between 80 and 100 ads are shown, with a total advertising time of around 50 minutes, equating to roughly 30 seconds per ad. In 2023, some Super Bowl advertising spots sold for $7 million.

While one might wonder why brands would pay such a high amount for a 30-second TV ad, for many brands the high costs is offset by even higher returns. Advertising during the Super Bowl provides marketers with a captive audience and increased brand awareness, in the US in particular. Studies by Kantar have shown that Super Bowl advertisers see a notable increase in word-of-mouth (both online and offline) in the month following the event. This results in increased sales with the 2021 Super Bowl ads having delivered an average return on investment of $4.60 per dollar spent, with many brands in the double digits.

Nonetheless, $7 million is a lot of money to spend on one 30-second ad and for that amount, marketers could purchase a host of other advertising opportunities.

Digiday collates an annual list of what the cost of a Super Bowl ad can get marketers elsewhere. For $7 million in 2024, digital marketers can buy between 2.8 and 3.9 million clicks on TikTok’s in-feed ads, where cost-per-click ranges from $1.80 to $2.46, or between 140 and 200 million impressions on a streaming ad, where CPM rates range from $35 to $50.

On dating app Bumble, costs-per-click range from $0.75 to $1.25, resulting in between 5.6 and 9.3 million clicks for a $7 million budget. Meanwhile, costs-per-click are $0.70 for a display ad on Candy Crush, which means a $7 million spend would result in 10 million clicks.