The Super Bowl is not only a big night for football but also for commercials.
Companies spent, on average, $7 million for every 30 seconds of advertisement space. That means tens of millions of dollars for just two minutes of ad time Sunday night.
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The Super Bowl no doubt gets more eyeballs than any awards show and the commercials were filled with all the same things you’d see from the Hollywood red carpet – celebrity cameos, a surprise from Texas’ own Beyonce, and lots of laughs. The star-studded night included commercials featuring Christopher Walken, Ben Affleck, Beyoncé, Quinta Brunson, Jenna Ortega, Kate McKinnon and Jennifer Aniston.
Here’s some of the Super Bowl 2024 ads getting the most buzz for its star-power and humor:
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BEYONCE BREAKS THE INTERNET
Verizon’s ad with Queen Bey herself resulted in a surprise reveal of a new album and new music, which dropped moments after the commercial aired. "Act II" will be released on March 29, Beyoncé announced in a teaser video about the album posted to her Instagram account.
GENIE IN A BOTTLE
DFW’s own Post Malone and Peyton Manning are part of the wishes granted by a genie in a Bud Light bottle.
TALKIN’ LIKE WALKEN
Halftime performer Usher and Christopher Walken team up in this ad for BMW’s next generation of cars – where everybody is talkin’ like Walken.
THE ‘DUNKINGS’
Ben Affleck crashed wifey Jennifer Lopez' ad for Dunkin Donuts, after she did the same thing to him last year. The commercial features a cameo by Ben's bestie, Matt Damon and fellow-Boston celebrity Tom Brady.
LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBAAA
Arnold Schwarzenegger links up with State Farm to star in his best action film role in decades.
THAT HOME INTERNET FEELING
T-Mobile brought back the stars of NBC's Scrubs, Zach Braff and Donald Faison, to help welcome Jason Momoa to the neighborhood. The trio re-enacted an entire scene from the movie Flashdance, as that movie’s star, Jennifer Beals, watches them in judgment.
DON’T FORGET UBER EATS
NBC’s Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer reunite for an ad about Uber Eats – with Aniston forgetting about her 10 years working with Schwimmer but not forgetting about her Uber Eats orders. Includes guest appearances from the Beckhams and Usher once again.
HOLD MY OIKOS
Actor and comedian Martin Lawrence teams up with former NFL tight end and current sports commentator Shannon Sharpe in Oikos’ 30-second Super Bowl commercial.
E-TRADE PICKLEBABIES
Trash-talking babies take center stage in E-Trade’s Super Bowl commercial.
MICHAEL CERAVE
This ad, featuring actor Michael Cera, was bizarre but still deserved a good chuckle with a last name that was too easy for the company not to take advantage of.
PERFECT 10: KIA
Kia pulled at the heartstrings in this commercial about the relationship between a young girl and grandfather.
Expert Weights In
Dr. Rama Yelkur, College of Business Dean and marketing professor at Texas Woman's University, is probably one of the few who took breaks during the actual football game because her job involves watching all of the commercials.
She's a nationally recognized expert on Super Bowl ads. For nearly 25 years, Yelkur has hosted a research panel to study the ins and outs of every commercial for every single Super Bowl game. Her work has garnered so much attention that she has landed phone calls from big brands like Kimberly-Clark, Disney, and the NFL for her insight.
Sunday night, her team of students and staff conducted another real-time analysis.
She told NBC 5 in a post-game interview that the night's winning ingredient was nostalgia.
"Nostalgia was a theme this year. They brought back celebrities from decades ago and intermingled them with others,” she said. "I think that they have improved from the last couple of years. I was thinking over time, what's happening to the commercials? I think that there were some memorable ones. In spite of having a lot of celebrities, we were made to laugh and have a good time and we were entertained today. So they did a good job."
The game going into overtime also meant there was probably some heated competition between companies to re-run some commercials during those crucial moments.
Yelkur said the losers of the night could be the ones that caused a little controversy, including some religious and political ads that could feel a little out of place for such a night of football entertainment. The commercial below, paid for by the group He Gets Us, is among those getting the most reactions among the masses.
Yelkur added some commercials went unnoticed because they just didn't have the entertainment, humor, or celebrity cameos present.
Temu’s ‘Shop Like A Billionaire’ ad – which replayed three times possibly due to the overtime – has gained attention for making the ‘worst commercial’ lists on the internet.
Some new companies Yelkur says advertised during the Super Bowl for the first time ever include Nerds candy, Drumstick ice cream, the Popeyes chicken chain, and the social media app Snapchat. Apartments.com is another big spender and newcomer to the Super Bowl ad realm, which paid for three spots this year.
Some of the regulars we did not see on TV this weekend are the big three automakers whose workers went on strike last year.
"And there's no particular reason they're staying out. Maybe that's their advertising budget this year. It could be related to the sentiment of the company and the people,” Yelkur said. "How the optics would look if they spent $7 million or $14 million on a Super Bowl commercial.”
For a full recap of some other commercials and Super Bowl moments you may have missed, click here.
