GOTTA LOVE THE ADS

For the past 52 years America has watched a bigger-than-life annual sporting event—the Super Bowl. Every year the Super Bowl typically pulls in high ratings. These high ratings mean that the broadcaster, CBS for 2019, is allowed charge a premium for 30-second television commercials. Since the first broadcast Super Bowl, advertisers have been willing to pay this amount, even with the cost of each commercial costing more than it did the year before. Super Bowl LIII is no different, charging advertisers $5.25 million for each 30-second ad. This is a far cry from the original $37,500 for the same spot (140 times more) in the first Super Bowl. (If you take inflation into account, that rate drops to a mere 18-times increase.)

Many times, these overly expensive ads provide little to no ROI for these brands, and often the brand comes under scrutiny for the cost expenditure. The Washington Postthis year garnered some controversy for their 60-second commercial and the potential $10 million ad, as it is twice as long as the standard 30 second, $5.25 million ad. Some of the controversy came from the Washington Post’sown reporters who decry the expenditure as foolish with the money being better spent elsewhere. Controversy also surrounds an ad that ran in Canadian markets by UNIFOR (a Canadian Union) speaking out against GM.

Regardless of possible controversies, for some people watching the commercials during the Super Bowl is more engaging than the game itself. With this year’s game garnering the lowest ratings in 10 years the high cost of the ads may not be worth the investment at all. While there were a plentiful number of ads during this year’s game, CBS actually hadn’t sold out its inventory until the final hours leading up to the game.

Lets’ look at the ads from this year’s Super Bowl:

Entertainment

Brand:  Marvel
Title: Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame

Brand:  Marvel
Title: Captain Marvel – “Big Game”

Brand:  Universal
Title: Hobbs and Shaw

Brand:  Hulu
Title:The Handmaid’s Tale: Season 3 Teaser

Brand:  NFL
Title:The 100-Year Game

Brand:  Netflix
Title:Our Planet

Brand:  Amazon Studios
Title:Hanna Season 1

Food/Beverage Industry

Brand:  Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer
Title:The Pitch

Brand:  M&Ms
Title:M&M’s Chocolate Bar

Brand:  Doritos
Title:Chance the Rapper x Backstreet Boys

Brand:  Bud Light (1)
Title:Special Delivery

Brand:  Bud Light (2)
Title:Bud Light x Game of Thrones Super Bowl Commercial – Joust

Brand:  Bud Light (3)
Title:Medieval Barbers

Brand:  Bud Light (4)
Title:Trojan Horse Occupants

Brand:  Pepsi
Title:More Than Ok

Brand:  Avocados from Mexico
Title:Top Dog

Brand:  Pringles
Title:Sad Device

Brand:  Planters
Title: Mr. Peanut Always There in Crunch Time

Brand:  Stella Artois
Title:Change Up the Usual

Brand:  Bubly
Title:Michael Bublé vs bubly

Brand:  Michelob ULTRA (1)
Title:Robots

Brand:  Michelob ULTRA (2)
Title:The Pure Experience

Brand:  Devour
Title:Devour

Brand:  Burger King
Title:Eat Like Andy

Brand:  Budweiser
Title:Wind Never Felt Better

Internet Industry

Brand:  Bumble
Title:Serena Williams

Brand:  Expensify
Title:2 Chainz x Adam Scott

Brand:  SimpliSafe
Title: Fear In Everywhere

Brand:  Google (1)
Title:100 Billion Words

Brand:  Google (2)
Title:Job Search for Veterans

Brand:  TurboTax
Title:RoboChild

Brand:  Wix
Title:with Karlie Kloss

Brand:  Microsoft
Title:We All Win

Brand:  Amazon Alexa
Title:Not Everything Makes the Cut

Telecommunications Industry

Brand:  T-Mobile (1)
Title:We’ll Keep this Brief

Brand:  T-Mobile (2)
Title:What’s for Dinner

Brand:  T-Mobile (3)
Title:We’re Here for You

Brand:  T-Mobile (4)
Title:Dad?!

Brand:  Mint Mobile
Title:Chunky Style Milk

Brand:  Sprint
Title:Best of Both Worlds

Brand:  Verizion (1)
Title:The Coach Who Wouldn’t Be Here

Brand:  Verizion (2)
Title:The Team That Wouldn’t Be Here

Transportation/Travel Industry

Brand:  Hyundai
Title:The Elevator

Brand:  Turkish Airlines
Title:A Ridley Scott Film: #TheJourney

Brand:  Audi
Title:Cashew

Brand:  Mercedes-Benz
Title:Say the Word

Brand:  Toyota(1)
Title:Toni

Brand:  Toyota(2)
Title:Wizard

Brand:  Norwegian Cruise Line
Title:Norwegian Cruise Line

Brand:  Kia
Title:Give It Everything

Other

Brand:  WeatherTech (1)
Title:Scout

Brand:  WeatherTech (2)
Title:CupFone

Brand:  Persil Proclean
Title:Game-time Stain-Time

Brand:  Olay
Title:Killer Skin

Brand:  ADT
Title:Real Protection

Brand:  Colgate Total
Title:Close Talker

Brand:  Skechers
Title:Easy

Brand:  Washington Post
Title:Democracy Dies in Darkness

What are your thoughts? What commercials stuck out to you the most? Have you ever purchased a product based on a Super Bowl commercial? Do you feel that they are worth the price premium that companies are charged? Let us know below, we’d love to hear your thoughts.