AI, super drugs and smart glasses: Super Bowl ads go back to the future
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This year's Super Bowl will spotlight a slew of brands selling the innovations shaping American culture including AI, wearable tech, weight loss drugs and betting.
Why it matters: Even in the fragmented media landscape, the Big Game holds unmatched value for brands — some at a record price of more than $10 million for 30 seconds.
The big picture: NBCUniversal's Peter Lazarus, who oversees sports advertising and partnerships, said the strongest category growth in ads is from tech and AI companies.
- "You're going to see a plethora of AI units across our entire broadcast, and their creatives are terrific," Lazarus told Axios. "Each one of them talks a little bit differently about AI and how AI can improve your life and what it can do for you."
- "Some of these companies you've heard of every day, and some of them, I think, will be new," he added.
Zoom in: Google, Amazon, Rippling, Wix and Squarespace are among the 16 tech companies advertising this year, according to Axios' analysis, which includes only in-game, national ads on linear that were released or teased as of Feb. 5.
- Anthropic announced its first Super Bowl campaign, running a 60-second pregame spot and a 30-second in-game spot that pledge Claude will be ad-free, unlike OpenAI's ChatGPT.
- OpenAI is expected to advertise again this year, after running its first TV commercial during last year's game.
- Salesforce is partnering with MrBeast for its spot. "Let's make the craziest Salesforce-Slack love child ad the world's ever seen," CEO Marc Benioff said to him in an X post.
- Meta will advertise its Oakley smart glasses in two 30-second spots, featuring running back Marshawn Lynch, filmmaker Spike Lee, golfer Akshay Bhatia and skateboarder Sky Brown.
- For weight loss medications, health startup Hims & Hers will return to the Super Bowl this year. Ro, one of its competitors, will debut this year in a spot with Serena Williams.
- For betting, Fanatics Sportsbook is running its first-ever Big Game commercial, featuring Kendall Jenner. Saturday Night Live's Colin Jost and Michael Che are in DraftKings spot. FanDuel's ad runs prior to kickoff.
Yes, but: The NFL reportedly blocked prediction markets from advertising in the Super Bowl, as was the case for the 2025 season, per Front Office Sports.
Reality check: The Super Bowl ad lineup still leans heavily on familiar categories such as alcohol and snacks.
- Studios also are expected to promote new films, including Paramount with "Scream 7," Lionsgate with "Michael," Universal with "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" and Disney with "The Mandalorian and Grogu."
What to watch: Advertisers are sticking to creative themes that work such as humor and celebrities. Spending on celebrity talent surged from 2020 to 2025 to $253 million, driven by ensembles, with 61% of total ads featuring celebrities, according to ad tech firm XR Extreme Reach.
- But expectations are higher than ever, Kantar's senior vice president of creative strategy Kerry Benson told Axios.
- "There's a recipe for Super Bowl advertising — good storytelling, being entertaining, celebrities, humor," Benson said. "But piling on celebrity is not quite novel as a few years ago. Celebrities get your attention and then delivering humor is usually part of what they're doing."
- "Humor is always a good sell," said Martin Blich, WPP Media executive director and head of U.S. sports investment and partnership.
Go deeper: 2026 Super Bowl ads to watch early
