Super Bowl Commercial Cost Revealed for 2021

Super Bowl LV week has arrived, meaning that fans are preparing to watch a battle between the [...]

By John Newby

Super Bowl LV week has arrived, meaning that fans are preparing to watch a battle between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The game is free to watch online this year, helping even more viewers watch the highly-anticipated Super Bowl commercials. But how much does an ad cost companies? According to Variety, ViacomCBS has been seeking around $5.5 million for a 30-second Super Bowl commercial.

This price is an increase from $5.25 million in 2019. Business Insider reports that this increase is nothing new based on the history of the Big Game. Ads cost $37,500 in 1967, reached more than $1 million by 1994 and ultimately hit $5 million in 2017. While the price of a 30-second ad has continued to increase over the years, another major change has occurred ahead of Super Bowl LV.

Three of the biggest companies — Anheuser-Busch InBev, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola — have decided to bench their ads for their main brands due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anheuser and PepsiCo each bought ad slots for other products and will continue to advertise during the Big Game, albeit differently. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, is completely sitting out of the event. Additionally, Hyundai and Avocados from Mexico have also decided to skip purchasing ad spots during Super Bowl LV.

Despite having major brands skip the premier advertising event, ViacomCBS has "virtually sold out" its available spots. There will be advertisements from Tide, Michelob ULTRA, Pringles, Vroom and Chipotle. Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade will also talk about bad haircuts and wedding postponements. Both Vroom and Chipotle are "Super Bowl rookies," joining Unilever's Hellman mayonnaise and Scott's Miracle-Gro.

While many brands wait until the Big Game starts to unveil their unique advertisements, others drop some teasers leading up to kickoff. Uber Eats is among this group, revealing a clip that referenced SNL skits from history. The food delivery service dropped a teaser on Saturday night that showed Wayne's World's main characters.

The advertisement started with Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar sitting in the basement and wearing their attire from the Wayne's World sketches, the film and its sequel. The short clip even included era-appropriate graphics. "2020, man, that was a great year," Wayne said. Both he and Garth waited for a beat before saying, "Not!" The duo continued and talked about how they would show up for the game that "could not be named" due to legal reasons.

Similarly, musician Shaggy is making his Super Bowl debut to revisit his hit song's history, "It Wasn't Me." He joins Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis while highlighting the song's success and the flavor of Cheetos. The advertisement surfaced ahead of the Big Game and will air at some point during the broadcast. Shaggy spoke to PopCulture.com about the ad, admitting he was "incredibly blessed and very thankful" to be a part of the hilarious commercial.

"When Cheetos approached us to use the song, we get a lot of syncs for it, so I thought, 'Okay that's great,' it's Cheetos, I'm a Cheetos guy anyway. This is a product that's in my household; you know what I mean? They asked me to be in it, and then I learned it was a Super Bowl commercial, and I was like, 'Wow! This is an amazing opportunity.'" Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.

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