It’s another Super Bowl Sunday, and that means if you believe the pundits at FOX and Nielsen roughly one in three of us will at some point between the hours of roughly 6:30 pm ET and 10:30 PM ET they’ll have at least one of their video sources tuned to one of their affiliates or, for the first time, their ad-supported FAST channel, TUBI. The other two will apparently have much shorter lines and much less traffic should they decide to venture out–which according to the weather alerts I’ve been seeing is a far less likely possibility in the Northeast. With my niece’s new-found religion, the Philadelphia Eagles, playing for NFL supremacy for the second time in three years, in her neck of the woods that one in three number is likely to be higher.
So if you’re an advertiser seeking scale in a media landscape that is more fractionalized than ever today’s your day of reckoning as well. Because while the entry price for a spot is an all-time record, the potential audience that it will reach may also be one. THE SPORTING NEWS’ Daniel Mader offered his informed speculation on both yesterday:
For the most part, the cost of a 30-second Super Bowl commercial in 2025 is around the same as it was last year: $7 million. But according to CNN, Fox has sold at least 10 of its Super Bowl 59 commercial spots for over $8 million, pushing up the potential price for the 2026 Super Bowl. The CNN report added that those $8 million commercial spaces were sold “relatively recently,” with some originally expected sponsors giving up their spaces for various reasons, including the California wildfires. The last time the Super Bowl aired on Fox, the Chiefs vs. Eagles matchup in 2023, the game drew over 115 million viewers, per CNBC.
So for that kind of cache a marketer wants and needs as much runway as possible, and thanks to the venerable USA TODAY Ad Meter 34 of the spots that will eventually air during the game have already been dropped online with the ability to be rated on a now more simplified 1-5 scale–a pivot that a researcher such as moi finds particularly noteworthy. While I’m both judgmental and savvy enough to have spread out my own ratings over a wider range of the prior 1-10 yardstick the results in most years saw very few ads scoring much lower than a 5.0 average. A smaller scale forces raters to be definitive in their verdicts and tends to better identify what didn’t work all that well–which since the majority of these spots have a follow-up flight timed to peak viewing level season, getting the necessary feedback to potentially make tweaks is ultimately more valuable in the long run than the ability to brag about “winning” the competition.
For my part, my two perfect 5s to date have been reserved for two of the noisier releases, Pringles’ CALL OF THE MUSTACHES, which features several zeitgesty celebs from sports and Hollywood, as Mader’s colleague Daniel Katz noted:
(T)he brand is leaning into Julius Pringles, the chip’s mascot and his iconic mustache. When actor Adam Brody goes to get some Pringles at a Super Bowl party, only to find an empty can, he summons mustaches from around the world to deliver chips. The ad is set to a version of Neil Hefti’s original Batman theme that replaces “Batman” with “mustache”.
And I’d wager you’re not surprised that my other top score so far has gone to WHEN SALLY MEET HELLMANN’s, which returns Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan to Katz’s Delicatessen where this time around Ryan apparently needs a lubricant to help her achieve orgasmic bliss–for her sandwich, you pervs:
PIONEER WOMAN’s Kelly O’Sullivan offered up her own thoughts:
This year, Hellmann’s is delivering an ad so nostalgic, so hilarious, and so perfectly executed that it’ll send When Harry Met Sally fans into a full-blown ’80s rom-com spiral. If you know anything about Ree Drummond, you know she thinks the Nora Ephron classic is one of the best romantic comedies of all time. “A seemingly unlikely romantic leading man, Billy Crystal completely nails Harry’s dry wit, cynical outlook, and jaded vulnerability,” Ree has said. “And in my opinion, Sally is Meg Ryan’s signature role. It’s why people fell in love with her… and fall back in love with her every time they watch it.” So seeing them reunite at Katz’s Deli more than 30 years later? That’s about as good as it gets.
Since I’m old enough to remember when such cultural touchstones as 60s superhero comedies and 80s romcoms were a thing, I’m willing to overlook the inconsistencies in messaging that insinuating dry pre-formed potatoes are delicious and applying mayonnaise to deli meat is, well, kosher. I’m most curious in how these ultimately play to generations that have to Google the references in order to fully get the joke. If nothing else, having Sydney Sweeney as the button in this version versus Estelle Reiner will likely increase those odds.
I was less generous with some other spots, particularly Nerdwallet’s GENIUS BELUGA, Ray-Bay/Meta’s WHO EATS ART and Doritos’ ABDUCTION (FOR THE BOLD), in the latter case because I knew some very special folks who competed in the open call for amateur directors to create the brand’s Super Bowl spot and had seen their submissions beforehand. Yes, I’m biased. I was less so and more complimentary about the likes of Uber Eats’ CENTURY OF CRAVINGS, so much so that I was even inspired to find a few spare shekels to indulge in a Martha Stewart-created Caesar’s (Superdome) Salad, if for no other reason than the reusable bowl it came in that’s shaped like the stadium where the game will be played today brings back some wonderful memories of private parties I attended in that venue during several NATPE conventions. 
And while spots for Haagan-Daaz featuring Vin Diesel and company paying homage to the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise and Instacart’s dizzying array of commercial icons weren’t my cup of tea, they might be yours.
And then there are ones not yet ratable that are noteworthy. TOM’S GUIDE’s Martin Shore offered up Disney+’s WHAT IF and Dunkin Donuts’ DUNKINGS 2, which brings back the Affleck boys and Kendall Roy to expand their Boston-verse into, literally, BOSTON STRONG:
And one that hasn’t yet been made available for preview was noteworthy enough to attract the attention of no less than three CNN reporters–
The United States Secret Service has tapped blockbuster movie director Michael Bay to create a recruiting advertisement that is expected to be unveiled in the stadium on Super Bowl Sunday, according to multiple NFL and Secret Service sources.
The ad cost an estimated $2 million for the Secret Service to produce, according to two sources familiar with the project — a hefty price tag that comes amid massive budget cuts and layoffs at other government agencies. The ad is expected to air during the pregame show on a jumbotron inside New Orleans’ Superdome stadium, according to a source close to the NFL. The ad time is being donated, so the Secret Service will not have to pay an additional fee.
Which considering how at least one person who will reportedly be in attendance feels about wasteful government spending is a point I suppose had to be made.
Then again, he falls more into the demographic that still thinks USA TODAY is broadly resonant and relevant, so perhaps the real consternation might be that we’ll actually have to wait until later today to see it, let alone rate it. For me, that’s the best thing about having these ads out there before the game. My prostate isn’t getting any younger.
Until next time..