As we inch closer to the end of summer, we're going from cracking open a cold one by the grill or pool to cracking one open in front of the football game. So far this year, AdImpact has tracked over 1.0M broadcast airings and over 34.5B CTV impressions advertising nice cold (or warm!) beverages. Beverage advertising has returned to normal on broadcast after an unusually heavy 2025, but CTV continues to grow, and major sporting events are showing how alcohol brands in particular are using both channels to reach large audiences.
In recent years, non-alcoholic beverages have made up 55%-60% of total broadcast ad airings within the beverage subcategory (alcoholic vs. non-alcoholic). This year is looking to be on track for that share as well. By CTV impressions, the split is tighter: so far this year, non-alcoholic beverage CTV ads saw 18.0B impressions to alcoholic beverages' 16.5B — nearly a 50/50 split.
2025 saw a surge in beverage subcategory advertising across broadcast, with a 50% increase in broadcast ad airings compared to 2024. That surge looks like a one-off: so far this year, we’ve tracked 1.0M broadcast airings in the beverage subcategory, roughly the same pace as 2024. While broadcast airings returned to their usual level, CTV impressions climbed 21% across the beverage subcategory.
Alcohol Brands Bet Big on Major Sporting Events
So far this year, alcoholic beverages have seen over 455K broadcast airings and over 16.5B CTV impressions. Compared to this point last year, alcoholic beverages have seen a 23% decrease in broadcast airings but a 51% increase in CTV impressions.
Advertising activity for alcoholic beverages first spiked this year in February, coinciding with the Winter Olympics. This spike hadn't occurred in past Februarys, making it alcohol advertisers' biggest February in recent years, driven largely by Michelob Ultra being the official beer of Team USA during the Winter Olympics. The brand aired numerous Olympic-themed spots highlighting events such as skiing, curling, bobsledding, and hockey. Overall, Michelob Ultra, alongside other Anheuser-Busch products saw 10K broadcast airings during Winter Olympics programming.
After a second spike in May, alcohol advertising this year hasn't seen sustained summer growth or the Fourth of July spike of past years. Looking ahead, we're on track for another spike in the fall with the kickoff of the NFL season. In 2025, 40% of alcohol broadcast airings and 42% of CTV ad impressions occurred during the months that overlapped with the 2025-2026 NFL season. We tracked 25K alcoholic beverage broadcast ad airings during NFL games themselves, compared to 10.5K for NBA games, 5.3K for MLB games, and less than 1K for NHL games.
The top advertised alcohol products on broadcast so far this year have been Corona, Modelo, and Michelob. Corona and Michelob saw 16% and 57% increases in broadcast airings compared to this point last year — for the latter, driven by Anheuser-Busch’s “Let it Pour” World Cup campaign, which saw extensive advertising during the tournament's games. In general, alcohol brands made a big play during the World Cup, ranking as the third-most-advertised category with over 10K broadcast airings during World Cup programming.
Meanwhile, Modelo saw a 53% decrease in broadcast airings compared to this point last year. This year also saw a non-beer product, Crown Royal whiskey, break into the top ten most advertised alcohol products on broadcast.
On CTV, the most advertised alcoholic beverages by impressions have been Corona (3.3B), Michelob Ultra (2.2B), Heineken (1.1B), Bud Light (697M), and Budweiser (639M). Just outside the top five is Cutwater (636M), a quickly growing brand that targets the Gen Z and Millennial demographics. For comparison, Cutwater has under 1K broadcast airings so far this year.
At this point last year, the top advertised products on CTV were Corona (1.3B), Michelob Ultra (1.0B), Modelo (688M), Bud Light (514M), and Heineken (409M).
The Beverage Ad Wars: Coca-Cola Reigns as Pepsi Shifts to CTV
Non-alcoholic beverages have seen over 551K broadcast airings, and over 18B CTV impressions. Compared to this point last year, non-alcoholic beverages have seen a 44% decrease in broadcast airings, but a modest 3% increase in CTV impressions. That CTV growth significantly trails the 51% increase seen among alcohol brands. Advertising activity for non-alcoholic beverages has lagged behind previous years, with a small spike during the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations around July 4.
In previous years, there were spikes in March, the start of summer around May and June, and again heading into the holiday season. In 2025, 40% of broadcast airings for non-alcoholic beverages came in the months of November and December alone. Coca-Cola is a large driver of this, with its annual holiday campaign. This past November and December, Coca-Cola saw 146K broadcast airings and 2.2B CTV impressions, making up nearly half of the brand’s total CTV impressions in 2025.
Speaking of Coca-Cola, the iconic brand tops the list as the most advertised drink on broadcast across 2025 and so far into 2026. Compared to this point in 2025, Coca-Cola saw a 37% increase in broadcast airings. Meanwhile, its longtime competitor, Pepsi, saw a 90% decrease in broadcast airings, falling from the second-most-advertised beverage at this point in 2025 to ninth in 2026. But Pepsi moved in the opposite direction on CTV, where impressions have increased 78% compared to this point last year.
On CTV, the most advertised beverages are Coca-Cola (3.0B), Red Bull (1.6B), Gatorade (1.4B), Pepsi (1.1B), and Monster Energy (1.1B). In comparison, at this point in 2025, the most advertised beverages were Coca-Cola (2.2B), Gatorade (1.7B), Pepsi (1.2B), Celsius (1.2B), and Mountain Dew (888M).
Looking Ahead
So far in 2026, beverage advertisers spent the year chasing the crowd wherever it gathered, from the Olympics in February to the World Cup in the summer and, if past trends hold, the NFL in the fall. Alcohol brands leaned hardest into that playbook, with Anheuser-Busch and Michelob turning global sporting events into some of their biggest advertising moments of the year. Non-alcoholic beverages played a steadier game, anchored by Coca-Cola's dominance and its reliably massive holiday push still to come.
AdImpact will continue to watch this story in the second half of the year. As things stand now, broadcast airings across the beverage subcategory have settled back to pre-2025 levels, but CTV impressions keep climbing. Pepsi doubled down on connected TV while pulling back on linear, while brands like Cutwater have generated hundreds of millions of CTV impressions with little broadcast presence. As the NFL season kicks off and holiday advertising ramps up, both broadcasters and CTV platforms can expect to see accelerated activity from beverage advertisers.