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Charted: The Rising Cost of Super Bowl Ads (1965-2025)

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1 month ago

February 9, 2025

Govind Bhutada

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Charted: The Rising Cost of Super Bowl Ads

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The Super Bowl isn’t just a game—it’s a cultural phenomenon and one of the most-watched televised events in the United States.

For decades, advertisers have competed for a coveted 30-second spot during the big game, but this prime real estate has come at a steep and rising cost.

Using data from SuperBowl-Ads.com, this infographic explores how the average cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad has evolved from 1965 to 2025. Costs are adjusted for inflation to ensure that historical ad costs are comparable to today’s prices, and are based on commercial time fees charged by networks like NBC, CBS, and others.

Super Bowl Ad Costs Over Time (1965-2025)

Both the cost and viewership of Super Bowl commercials have skyrocketed over the last six decades, as shown in the data in the table below.

Year of Game	Average Cost of a 30-Sec Ad	Average number of viewers
1965	$37,500	24,430,000
1970	$72,500	46,040,000
1975	$110,000	57,710,000
1980	$275,000	68,290,000
1985	$550,000	92,570,000
1990	$800,000	79,510,000
1995	$1,085,000	94,080,000
2000	$2,200,000	84,335,000
2005	$2,500,000	90,745,000
2010	$3,100,000	111,010,000
2015	$2,400,000	86,072,000
2020	$5,600,000	99,900,000
2024	$7,000,000	115,100,000
2025	$8,000,000	N/A

As of 2025, a 30-second Super Bowl commercial costs $8 million, making the $37,500 fee from 1965 look tiny in comparison. However, over the same period, the average number of people viewing these ads has ballooned from around 24 million to more than 115 million (roughly one-third of the U.S. population).

The massive increases in ad costs and viewership reflect the enduring popularity of the Super Bowl, as well as its positioning as a unique event that attracts colossal audiences.

From generating a buzz throughout the nation to shaping consumer culture, the impact of Super Bowl commercials can be far-reaching. That explains why advertisers are willing to pay such hefty amounts for just 30 seconds on screen, and also why Super Bowl ads often set benchmarks for creative marketing.

However, paying millions for a Super Bowl ad also carries its own risk as advertisers face pressure to justify record-breaking costs. While hit commercials can do wonders for brand reputation, flat ads can draw equally opposite sentiments.

NFL Game Day Costs Have Surged Since 2013

Ads aren’t the only thing in the NFL that has has surged in price, as the general cost of going to a game (ticket, parking, beer, and a hot dog) has increased on average by 44% since 2013.

This increase in costs to see a football game has outpaced the national rate of inflation (31%), with the Las Vegas Raiders leading the price increases at a 103% increase from 2013 to 2023.

You can see which team was the only one in the NFL which had a decline in overall prices in this visual breakdown of NFL game cost inflation.