The number one off-field storyline each year about the Super Bowl is usually the television ads. Beyond which celebrities appear, the dominant narrative focuses on how much these ad units cost to buy and produce.
Super Bowl LX is notable because it sold multiple 30‑second units at a record price of $10 million or more for this year’s game.The question becomes: is it “worth it” to spend this amount of money on Super Bowl ads?
From a cost perspective, the answer has increasingly seemed to be no. The primary metric used to buy and sell ad units—cost per thousand impressions (CPM)—suggests a premium. The 2025 Super Bowl had 127.7 million viewers and ads priced at $8+ million per 30‑second unit. That translates to roughly a $62.65 CPM, while standard streaming TV advertising typically runs between $15 and $35 CPM.
The Super Bowl demonstrates one reason companies should not rely solely on CPM for ad buys. Research by Standford University (2015) showed that advertisers can achieve substantial return on investment (ROI) even at these higher price points.
The study’s author found that Budweiser earned an extra $96 million from its ads, receiving an ROI of 172 percent from adverting in the 2012 game. The author chose the 2012 game because it was the most‑watched telecast in history at that time.
Additionally, the study found that purchasing lifts continued for 20 weeks after the Super Bowl, particularly around the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The authors suggested that consumers tend to associate certain brands with sports consumption, driving increased purchases.
However, this impact did not hold for all advertisers. When companies were not the only brands advertising in their category (e.g., Pepsi and Coca‑Cola), the purchasing lifts and ROIs diminished.
More recent research supports Stanford’s original findings. A 2023 study from behavioral research company Veylinx found that Super Bowl commercials increased consumer demand by 6.4 percent. A 6.4 percent sales increase on $1 billion would translate to $64 million in incremental revenue. As context, Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) – producer of Budweiser and many other brands – generated $15.35 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2025.
The Veylinx study also found two interesting twists to the Stanford research: non‑advertisers in categories with Super Bowl advertising still benefited. Their demand grew by 4.2 percent. Moreover, most of the increased product demand was driven by women consumers.
These findings provide important insights for companies considering Super Bowl advertising. First, women not only follow sports but also respond strongly to sports‑related advertising and promotions. Second, companies, whether or not they advertise during the game, should consider using the Super Bowl as a springboard for future promotions.
This finding would appear to create a collective action problem. Why would a company in category invest in a Super Bowl ad if it can receive a seemingly similar benefit by not advertising? While the 2.1 percent difference in demand between advertisers and non‑advertisers may seem small, it can translate into millions of dollars in incremental revenue, as seen in the AB InBev example.
There is, however, a broader opportunity for all companies in categories represented in Super Bowl advertising: leveraging sports to target women. Women’s sports offer an especially strong vehicle given the seasonal calendar.
The NCAA women’s basketball tournament, combined with the starts of the NWSL season in March and the WNBA season in May (pending a successful new Collective Bargaining Agreement), offers brands several opportunities to capitalize on these consumer demand lifts.
To clarify, women’s sports attract a substantial number of male fans, and men’s sports attract substantial numbers of female fans – as demonstrated by the Super Bowl. Research from The Collective, Wasserman’s women-focused practice, and RBC has shown that the historic investment gap between women’s and men’s sports presents more opportunities to reach women consumers in ways that drive strong ROI for brands from both cost, price, and value perspective.
Super Bowl ads are not necessarily “worth it” for every company given their cost and structure. For many companies, however, the Super Bowl can help drive consumer demand and revenue both during and long after the game. Targeting women consumers through women’s sports is one of the strongest ways to compound the advantages created by the Super Bowl.
Joe Pompliano asked “Are Super Bowl Commercials Actually Worth The Price?” in his Huddle Up newsletter today while Katherine Rowe highlights how Cadillac Formula 1® Team is using the Super Bowl as a content and fan engagement launching pad for its inaugural season earlier this week. This is always interesting conversation that really depends on what “worth” means and how Super Bowl commercials can be the catalyst for larger marketing, advertising, content, and audience campaigns. Encourage people to check out Joe and Katherine’s analysis as well.
Interesting! Look forward to reading!