Super Bowl LX became the most streamed Super Bowl in history, as the Seattle Seahawks’ booming defense brought down the New England Patriots. The game marked a historic shift in viewing behavior. For the first time ever, streaming platforms accounted for a majority of a Super Bowl audience, according to AdImpact.
Streaming made up 56% of the game’s average audience of 131.7 million viewers, translating to approximately 73.8 million average streaming viewers. That represents a 10% increase in streaming viewership compared to last year’s Super Bowl, despite this year’s game drawing a slightly smaller overall audience.
As viewership habits continue to evolve, advertising trends are shifting alongside them. The most notable change this year was a surge in AI-related advertising, while traditionally dominant Super Bowl categories such as auto and beer pulled back. Below, AdImpact breaks down the key advertising trends from Super Bowl LX.
Trends of the Night
Welcome to the AI Era of Super Bowl Advertising
AI took center stage in Super Bowl advertising this year, as both AI and tech companies, and brands highlighting new AI-driven features sought to reach the game’s massive audience. AdImpact tracked 12 AI-related commercials that aired nationally during the game, spanning 11 advertisers: OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon, Google, Meta, GenSpark, AI.com, Microsoft, Wix, Base44, and Ring. Additionally, Svedka made history by airing the first-ever fully AI- generated Super Bowl commercial. This represents a 140% increase in AI-related ads from last year's Super Bowl, which saw spots from GoDaddy, Google, Meta, Salesforce, and OpenAI .
As brands like Coca-Cola have already experimented with AI-generated creative in holiday campaigns, the abundance of AI-related Super Bowl creatives this year raises questions about how extensively AI tools may shape future Super Bowl advertising.
Disney, Netflix and Illumination Go Big
Hollywood knows how to chase audiences, and there’s no bigger stage than the Super Bowl. During the Big Game, major studios including Disney, Netflix, and Illumination used the broadcast to promote upcoming releases such as Mandalorian & Grogu, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and Minions & Monsters.
With its promotion of The Adventures of Cliff Booth, Netflix also marked its return to Super Bowl advertising after a three-year hiatus, reentering the Big Game spotlight with a marquee theatrical push.
Last year’s Super Bowl featured five major in-game movie promos—Thunderbolts, Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, and M3GAN 2.0.
The 90's Were How Long Ago!?
Nostalgia was a recurring theme throughout the night, with advertisers leaning into familiar moments from the past to connect with viewers. Super Bowl audiences were transported back to the 1980s with Xfinity’s Jurassic Park spot, and then to the 1990s with Dunkin’s "DunKings", which featured characters inspired by beloved ’90s sitcoms. Both spots used deaging CGI technology to attempt to whisk the audience back to the past.
Continuing the ’90s throwback, the iconic Pokémon franchise is celebrating its 30th anniversary—a milestone The Pokémon Company marked with its first-ever Super Bowl commercial. The ad featured various celebrities sharing which Pokémon was their favorite.
NBC Wants You to Stay for The Olympics and Some Laughs
NBC made the most of its role as the Big Game’s broadcaster. Across NBC and Peacock, the network aired 15 in-game promotional spots, spotlighting new shows, upcoming seasons, and its coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics. With the Olympics serving as a major draw for both viewers and advertisers, roughly a quarter of NBC/Peacock’s Super Bowl promos focused on Olympic coverage alone. Comedy fans also got a preview of what’s ahead, as NBC aired two spots promoting its new comedy series, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.
Much like CBS’s heavy promotion of Paramount+ during its Super Bowl broadcast two years ago (remember, Paramount Mountain), NBC used the Super Bowl to push its streaming platform, Peacock. Five separate Peacock ads highlighted new and returning content, including The Burbs, The Traitors, and Ted, along with two spots promoting Wicked: For Good coming to the platform.
Old Categories Fade
Auto Super Bowl Advertising Stalls
Auto advertisers continue to pull back from the Super Bowl spotlight. This year, AdImpact tracked just three nationally aired automaker spots during the game—two from Toyota and one from Volkswagen.
That muted presence follows a similar pattern in recent years. Last Super Bowl featured only two auto advertisers, Jeep and Ram, while the Super Bowl prior saw three automakers take the stage: Volkswagen, Toyota, and BMW
Crypto's Comeback?
Crypto companies burst onto the Super Bowl stage in 2022, when four brands (FTX, Coinbase, Crypto.com, and eToro) aired national ads during the game. Since then, the category has largely disappeared from the Big Game. This year marked crypto’s return, with Coinbase airing the first Super Bowl crypto ad since 2022.
The spot featured a karaoke-themed rendition of “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” encouraging viewers to sing along before revealing the Coinbase logo at the end. The ad sparked significant online conversation, something Coinbase has become known for since its viral QR-code Super Bowl debut in 2022.
Other Trends
Anheuser-Busch Reclaims it's Super Bowl Beer Advertising Crown
2023 marked the end of Anheuser-Busch’s exclusivity deal with the NFL for beer advertising during the Super Bowl. In the years that followed, a broader mix of beer brands entered the Big Game, with national spots from Sam Adams, Coors Light, Blue Moon, Heineken, and others.
This year, however, beer advertising swung back in Anheuser-Busch’s favor. Only AB brands appeared during the game, with spots from Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob Ultra.
Beer ads are down from the five we saw during last year’s Super Bowl—Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, Stella Artois, Bud Light, and Coors—and are significantly lower than the nine that aired in 2023, the first Super Bowl after Anheuser-Busch’s exclusivity ended. That surge in beer advertising was driven by spots from non-AB brands such as Sam Adams, Blue Moon, Miller Lite, and alcohol-free Heineken.
Local Advertisers Partake in the Big Game
Local advertisers took advantage of lower Super Bowl ad rates to reach massive audiences without paying national prices.
In an analysis of local broadcast and CTV advertising across the Boston and Seattle markets, AdImpact found strong participation from regional brands during the Big Game.
In Boston, we tracked local spots from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Mass General Brigham, Bernie & Phyl’s, Best Buddies’ Challenge (featuring Drake Maye), Citizens Bank, and Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers, among others.
In a celebratory Seattle market, we saw local advertising from Starbucks, Dubin Law Group, Washington Energy Services, Les Schwab Tires, Pendergast Law, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, and Pacific Heating and Cooling.
Super Bowl Pregame Remains An Important Tool for Advertisers to Reach Audience
While it doesn’t capture the massive audience of the Big Game itself, the Super Bowl pregame still offers advertisers a valuable opportunity to reach a large audience—without paying the premium price of an in-game spot. AdImpact found that this year’s Super Bowl pregame show averaged 34.8M viewers.
Advertisers including TurboTax, YouTube TV, Manscaped, Ramp, and Skechers took advantage of that audience by airing spots during the pregame. Others—such as Anthropic, Disney, DraftKings, and FanDuel extended their presence by pairing pregame ads with in-game placements.
Our GM of Data Solutions, Don Norton further breaks down how brands can win big without paying big game prices for the Super Bowl in this write up for TVNewsCheck.