Beer, Betting, and Streaming, Oh My! A Super Bowl Advertising Analysis
Super Bowl ads, while a relatively small sample, are a decent indicator of trends in overall advertising demand. In a review of the last three years, the trends are clear: a few categories like Crypto and Covid-related PSAs are waning, largely being replaced by new categories like Sports Betting and Streaming, and there is more competition in established categories like QSR and Beer.
What’s Out: Crypto & COVID
Since 2021, ads pertaining to COVID-19 have steadily dropped, with no COVID-19 related ads appearing on Sunday night. In 2021, we tracked ads pertaining to COVID-19 from five advertisers. These ads mostly advertised how their businesses are still operating in the midst of the pandemic. For example, this Alaska Airlines ad describes the safety procedures on their flights, this ad for a local market casino highlights their air filtration and features customers and staff in masks. In 2022, ads pertaining to COVID shifted their theme to promoting vaccines. The Michigan Department of Health bought two airings and Oregon’s Department of Health bought three airings about COVID prevention and vaccines.
After stealing the show during the 2022 Super Bowl, cryptocurrency companies went silent during this years’ broadcast. Coinbase’s floating QR code ad was one of the biggest ads of last year and resulted in their website crashing. The four companies—FTX, Coinbase, Crypto.com, and eToro—that aired ads last year were not seen during the 2023 Super Bowl. However, they still have a quiet presence on normal broadcast times, like this ad from eToro about the social features on their crypto trading app. Compared to their 2022 Super Bowl ad, it is a lot lower quality. FTX, one of the other big crypto companies, filed for bankruptcy and is involved in a fraud scandal.
What’s In: Betting & Streaming
Sports Betting
Sports betting ads have grown exponentially in their Super Bowl presence, in line with how it has swept through the market over the last few years. While many Super Bowl ads are national and are seen on every screen in the country, the sports betting companies aim to be specific in where they air advertisements due to state-specific restrictions. But, as sports betting becomes legal in more places, the ads have significantly increased.
FanDuel hosted one of the more popular ads of 2023, dubbed the “Kick of Destiny” with Rob Gronkowski where fans could also bet on the outcome. Fox aired ads about their Fox Bet App, which aired in 192 markets, including somewhere sports betting is not yet legal. The other betting companies who aired ads in 2023 – BetMGM, DraftKings, & Fanduel – also made their ads national, so they appear to have lower airings numbers than Fox Bet App but are reaching a similarly sized audience.
Streaming
Throughout the past three Super Bowls, advertisers have set out to make their claim in the rapidly growing and competitive market of streaming platforms. From 2021 to 2022, the total number of unique airings advertising streaming platforms increased. In 2021, there was a total of 13 unique airings about streaming platforms, in 2022 there was 22. In 2023, we saw fewer streaming platforms air ads, but the ads were still notable. Tubi made their Super Bowl premier in a much talked about ad that made it seem as if your T.V. was switching apps to the Tubi app as well as an about viewers being thrown down a rabbit hole of T.V. shows.
A common trend between each Super Bowl is that the host network will advertise their streaming platform more than others. When CBS hosted the Super Bowl in 2021, Paramount+ had 9 unique airings, including this one featuring popular CBS network characters on “Paramount Mountain”. When NBC hosted in 2022, Peacock had 12 unique airings, one of which being this ad highlighting Peacock’s new shows for 2022. While Fox did not have their own streaming platform launched yet, they more heavily advertised their new network shows, such as Animal Control and Next Level Chef, as well as their broadcast of the Daytona 500. FOX Nation, their streaming platform was also featured during the big game with 3 different ad airings. The variety of streaming platform advertisers in 2022’s Super Bowl highlight the development of a more packed streaming market. We tracked unique airings from nine different streaming platform advertisers in 2022, and in 2023 that number was five. There were ads from Fox Nation, Netflix, Tubi, Peacock, and Paramount Plus.
Endemic: QSR & Beer
QSRs
Fast food companies have a unique split in their advertising. McDonalds, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, and Pizza Hut have all consistently aired ads in the Super Bowl. By filtering out the nationally aired Super Bowl ads, the regional divide of locally aired Super Bowl commercials becomes apparent. Bojangles, Jack In The Box, and Whataburger all have previously advertised in their local markets during the game. One of the big themes in advertising during NFL games this year was the Burger King advertising campaign. Their “Whopper” jingle was played across the nation all season, but they made it clear with their Super Bowl-themed jingle that the impact had already been made. Burger King did not air an ad during the Super Bowl. In fact, McDonalds was the only fast food advertiser to make an appearance, however, their ad with Cardi B aired before kick-off when viewership was down.
Beer
A new development in Super Bowl advertising this year was the result of Anheuser-Busch and the NFL ending their exclusivity deal on the advertising of beer during the Super Bowl. Because of this, the other night we saw non-Anheuser-Busch beer ads aired nationally for the first time since 1989. This time, there were ads from Coors Light, Miller Light, Samuel Adams, Blue Moon, and an alcohol-free Heineken. However, despite their exclusive deal ending, Anheuser Busch brands of beer still advertised plenty including ads for Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, Busch Light, and Budweiser, but without the classic Clydesdale horses and Labrador puppies.
[Editor's note: This is a contributed article from AdImpact. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]
Related Articles
TV is being digitized at an interesting time on the digital advertising timeline. Just as advertisers are able to target audiences on the big screen, their favorite approach - third party cookies - are going away. This is inconvenient, but David Naffis, GM of CTV at Kargo, argues that it's also a catalyst to force advertisers to test and perfect other targeting methodologies on CTV. One of the most promising is contextual targeting.
19 Mar 2024
In just a few months, the majority of Americans will be sitting down for one of the biggest events of the year - the Super Bowl. The big game is more than just an iconic time for sports fans, beer, and chicken wings, it's also one of the biggest and most talked about days of the year for advertising. Jenn Chen, President and CRO at Connatix, outlines the best strategies for maximizing advertising effectiveness after the game.
05 Dec 2023
YouTube may be too big to ignore. The question for advertisers might be - is it so big that it doesn't have to play by the rules? Hunter Terry of Lotame discusses many of the unusual and unexpected advertising advantages that YouTube currently possesses and what that means for the overall CTV advertising industry.
29 Sep 2023
Yoann Hinard, COO at Witbe, outlines why ad monitoring on real devices is essential for OTT performance
14 Aug 2023
Rose McGovern OF DIRECTV shares her insights on the rapid shift from linear to CTV and why advertisers must prioritize progress over perfection in their strategies.
07 Apr 2023
CTV is the hottest opportunity in advertising right now, and everyone wants to make money fast when the opportunity is ripe. Daniel Elad from TheViewPoint discusses how publishers looking to build a foundation for long-term success must use an intelligent, lean-forward approach to demand.
09 Mar 2023
Modern TV advertising is in a growth phase. Advertisers face new challenges as the landscape shifts from broadcast and cable to a new world of AVOD and FAST. Asrah Mohammed of Waymark discusses contextual targeting, a strategy that could help navigate this new landscape.
06 Mar 2023
The first article in a series sponsored by Progress Partners and its Executive-in-Residence program addressing the big questions the streaming industry is grappling with regarding advertising metrics.
28 Feb 2023
As streaming increasingly becomes the preferred consumption model for some of the world's most-watched content, expectations for high-quality and a great user experience are intensifying.
23 Feb 2023
Greg Morrow of Bitcentral looks at how publishers now need a "swiss army knife" of tools to realize their advertising potential. With content spread across so many distribution points and in different forms, publishers now need to integrate a separate toolset for each one to thrive in today's market.
09 Dec 2022
Tony Mooney of ThinkAnalytics discusses approaches for optimizing TV behavioral targeting at whatever speed suits the local market or operational constraints.
07 Dec 2022
As the fight for eyeballs intensifies, we are seeing more and more companies diversify their monetization strategies to include ad-supported revenue models that scale their advertising offerings and capabilities. As companies like Disney and Netflix debut ad-supported models, marketers and advertisers can take advantage by integrating themselves into the OTT mix to create campaigns that hook viewers in.
01 Nov 2022
The cost and sheer number of ad spots during the Super Bowl can make it difficult for brands to stand out in the crowd. Here's a look at what's worked, from Oreo cookies to Betty White.
09 Feb 2022
Sports betting is about to be revolutionized, and streaming needs to catchup to the micro-wagering trend.
10 Sep 2020