How much will a Super Bowl ad cost in 2025? Commercial prices are astronomical

Have you ever watched the Super Bowl with a bunch of marketing majors? I have. In college, I was friends with a group of students composed of finance, accounting and marketing gurus, which made me – an English major and future sports pundit – stick out like a sore thumb. When we watched the Super Bowl together, I cared about the game. For them, the game started during breaks in the action.

Super Bowl commercials are, to some extent, works of art. Do I think we've veered a little too heavily into the weird? Absolutely. Viewers are easily offended these days and ad teams will do everything in their power to avoid being responsible for that commercial. But each year, the Super Bowl provides us with some cult classics even I associate a brand with. That is the entire point. The more you remember an ad, the more likely you are (subconsciously, of course) to use that product – or at least that's what the marketing majors think.

How much does a Super Bowl ad cost in 2025?

What these people don't tell you is how much money the air time costs. The Super Bowl is the most-watched event in the United States most years, and for good reason. Sports is freeing at its best, and reminds us of our struggles at its worst.

The average price for a Super Bowl commercial has increased as the audience has. That makes sense, but at some point I'm going to need these business nerds to do a little cost-benefit analysis. Per USA Today, the average 30-second Super Bowl commercial in 2025 costs $8 million. That number has increased quite a bit the last few years – along with everything else in this country – from around $6.5 million in 2022.

Fox reportedly sold out of their air time back in November, which shows the demand for our attention. It's only a matter of time before the NFL opens up more commercial slots in Super Bowls to come, but for now, it's enjoyable to imagine McDonalds and Burger King battling it out for my attention span.

There will be a distinct lack of car commercials in this year's Super Bowl. State Farm has also opted to sit this one out. $8 million is a lot of money to spend on 30 seconds of TV time, especially when the end result doesn't always deliver customers.