CBS News
How much do Super Bowl commercials cost for the 2024 broadcast?
The Super Bowl marks the year’s biggest day for advertising, with top brands paying millions to get their messages in front of a television audience that reliably attracts more than 100 million viewers.
Over the years, the cost of a 30-second advertisement has soared, making the Super Bowl the costliest advertising venue on TV. Because the Super Bowl is one of the few events that draws an audience of this size, companies are willing to shell out millions to promote their brands during NFL showcase.
Here’s a quiz to test your knowledge of Super Bowl ad costs.
This year’s crop of Super Bowl ads will feature dozens of top brands, from Anheuser-Busch’s iconic Clydesdales to Uber Eats’ spot featuring Jennifer Aniston and Victoria and David Beckham. If you answered that the cost of a 30-second ad this year is $7 million, you’re right. That’s about on par with last year’s game, but represents a 55% jump from 2019.
This year’s advertisers are not only spending $7 million to buy half a minute of airtime, but are also opening their wallets to secure stars like Aniston and Snoop Dogg, as well as on glitzy productions. And many companies post their ads ahead of the Super Bowl, hoping to build buzz and catpure attention. (You can see some of the pre-released Super Bowl ads here.)
“I try not to think about the money,” director Charles Kidd II, known as Calmatic, told CBS News. He’s got a 60-second ad in this year’s Super Bowl for restaurant chain Popeye’s that features actor and comedian Ken Jeong,
Calmatic added, “Sometimes I don’t even want to know what the budget is, like just, ‘Let me create.’ We have to snap back to reality and be like, ‘Alright, everyone is going to see this.'”
Super Bowl LVIII will broadcast live on Sunday, February 11, at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on CBS and Nickelodeon, as well as on streaming on Paramount+ (CBS and CBS News are owned by Paramount Global.) Here’s how to watch the Super Bowl.
How much did Super Bowl commercials cost in past years?
The cost of a Super Bowl ad has jumped in recent years, rising from $4.5 million in 2019 to $7 million today.
What is the most expensive Super Bowl ad ever aired?
The most expensive Super Bowl commercials aired in 2020, according to GoBankingRates, which estimated that two 90-second ads that year from Amazon and Google are vying for the priciest ads in the championship.
The Amazon ad featured Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi in a spot for its Alexa voice assistant, while the Google ad was about an elderly man using the search company’s voice assistant to help him remember his wife.
Both ads cost about $16.8 million, according to GoBankingRates.
Why are Super Bowl ads so expensive?
Super Bowl ads command a premium because the game is typically the most-watched media event of the year. That gives brands a chance to reach more consumers at one time than anywhere else, and many companies use the opportunity to trot out new products or introduce a new slogan.
There’s another reason why brands are so willing to pay up: About 3 in 4 people say they are actually excited to watch the ads during the Super Bowl. Families and friends typically watch the game together, and often talk about the spots as well as the game itself — a discussion that can carry over at work the next day, experts say.
“This shared experience can amplify the emotional resonance of advertisements, making them more memorable and effective. When viewers watch the Super Bowl, they are not just passive recipients of content — they are engaged in a communal event,” said Jura Liaukonyte, a professor of marketing in Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, in an email.
With a massive audience of viewers who are glued to the Super Bowl commercials, brands are willing to pay up to secure a sliver of airtime.
CBS News
Trump taps Herschel Walker for ambassador to the Bahamas
President-elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate Herschel Walker, the former football player whose 2022 Senate run was plagued by controversy, to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.
“Herschel has spent decades serving as an Ambassador to our Nation’s youth, our men and women in the Military, and athletes at home and abroad,” Trump said on social media Tuesday night.
Walker would need to be confirmed by the Senate to assume the role. The Senate has not confirmed a U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas in over a decade. Former President Barack Obama had nominated Cassandra Butts for the role in 2014, but the Senate never even brought her nomination up for a vote, according to The Associated Press. She died in 2016.
Trump in his first term nominated Doug Manchester in 2017 for the ambassador role, but his nomination stalled for over two years. CBS News in 2019 also uncovered evidence of a possible pay-to-play scheme for the role. He eventually withdrew and Trump went on to nominate William Douglass in 2020. Douglass’ nomination was withdrawn by President Biden when he took office, and Mr. Biden in turn nominated Calvin Smyre, who has not been confirmed by the Senate.
Absent an official ambassador to the Bahamas, Kimberly Furnish currently serves in the role of Chargé d’Affaires.
Walker rose to national prominence as a star running back for the Georgia Bulldogs, winning the Heisman trophy in 1982. He spent his first few years of professional ball in the United States Football League before it folded, and then moved on to the NFL.
Walker reentered the national spotlight when, at Trump’s urging, he challenged Georgia’s Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock for his seat in 2022. The race featured several controversies, including two women claiming that Walker — who was running as an anti-abortion candidate — had paid for them to get abortions.
Walker denied both allegations.
In one instance, Walker admitted to writing a check for a woman who said he paid for her to get an abortion in 2009, but he said he hadn’t known what the money was for.
Another woman claimed Walker paid her to get an abortion while the two carried out a six-year relationship while he was married to another woman and playing in the NFL. During a news conference back in 2022, she said she couldn’t go through with the procedure when she went to get it herself, so Walker took her to a clinic in the Dallas area the next day and waited for her while she got the abortion.
“This was a lie a week ago and it is a lie today,” Walker said at the time following an interview the woman gave a week after the initial news conference.
Warnock would go on to win the election in a runoff after neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote on election day.
Aaron Navarro and
contributed to this report.
CBS News
1 killed, 9 injured in mass shooting in Baltimore suburb of Towson, police say
BALTIMORE — One person was killed and nine others injured in a mass shooting in the Baltimore suburb of Towson Tuesday night, authorities said.
Law enforcement responded at around 7:15 p.m. in the 8500 block of Loch Raven Boulevard, Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough said in a news briefing.
“It appears to be a mass shooting incident,” Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough told reporters. “We have multiple persons who were shot. Right now, we are determining the circumstances and the conditions in this case.”
The first arriving officer found a vehicle on its side in flames, McCullough said, and then several gunshot victims were found in the area. The name of the person killed was not released, and the conditions of the nine people injured was unknown.
At this time, investigators believe this was an isolated and targeted incident, with no further threat to community at this point, he added. It’s unclear if any suspects have been arrested.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is at the scene assisting police, as was the Baltimore County Fire Department.
Anyone with information is asked to call Baltimore County Police at 410-887-4636.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CBS News
Can Democrats recapture the House in 2026?
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