In our latest quarterly television insights report, AdImpact takes a closer look at the viewership data, political ad spending, ad airings, and advertising trends of these marquee Q1 moments – and what marketers need to know to fine-tune their strategies to prepare for a busy year.
Super Bowl Sets Streaming Record
Super Bowl LX became the most-streamed Super Bowl in history, as viewers tuned in across both linear and streaming platforms to watch the Seattle Seahawks defeat the New England Patriots.
Streaming made up 56% of the game’s average audience of 131.7M viewers, translating to approximately 73.8M 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.
The Super Bowl continues to be the biggest television event of the year, and the shift towards a majority streaming audience suggests that streaming will take a larger share of viewership for future games.
Interest in the pregame show was also high, as 34.8M viewers tuned in to get ready for the game. This marks another opportunity for brands to get involved in the game, usually at a lower cost than the big game spots.
Let’s explore some of the biggest advertising trends from this year’s Super Bowl.
AI Meets the Big Game
Commercials during the Big Game have traditionally been driven by cars, food and insurance. This year marked the embrace of AI, as commercials featuring 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 ads across 11 advertisers, including Microsoft, Anthropic, GenSpark, Amazon and Ring. Svedka also made history with the first-ever fully AI-generated Super Bowl commercial. Overall, there was a 140% increase in AI-related ads from last year's game, which saw spots from GoDaddy, Google, Meta, Salesforce and OpenAI.
NBC Leverages the Spotlight
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 NBC's newest comedy, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, with two spots promoting the show.
NBC also used the event to promote Peacock, as five separate ads aired throughout the game. Featured content included exclusive shows like The Burbs, The Traitors and Ted, along with the premiere of Wicked: For Good on the platform.
Traditional Advertisers Fade
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.
This follows a similar pattern from the two most recent Super Bowls, which saw two and three auto spots, respectively.
Beer advertising is also on the decline, with only three ads compared to last year’s five. Only Anheuser-Busch brands appeared during the game, with spots from Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob Ultra.
Despite changing trends, the Super Bowl still represents a major opportunity for brands to reach a wide audience and make a splash that resonates with consumers for years to come.
For more coverage of the Super Bowl, check out our analysis here
Olympics Bring Advertisers Gold
The Olympics remain a high-volume, broad-reach advertising environment across linear and CTV. The 2026 Winter Olympics, which ran from February 6 to 22 on NBC and Peacock, led to over 584K broadcast airings, with more than 26K creatives from over 10K advertisers.
The top advertising categories were automotive, legal services, telecommunications, alcohol, and fast food. This represents a slight shift in the top categories across broadcast targeting all programs during the Olympics time period, which were legal services, household, home improvement, auto makers, and fast food.
Across the board, the top advertisers by broadcast airings were Visa, Toyota, Michelob, Honda, and Xfinity. Just outside the top five was TurboTax, which strategically leveraged the Olympics during peak tax season to remind the audience to use their platform to file their taxes.
The top advertisers on CTV were Progressive, Nissan, Toyota, Audi, and State Farm, as legal and automotive makers looked to reach a more streaming-heavy audience.
Michelob Ultra and Delta, sponsors of Team USA, also had a significant presence during the games. Michelob Ultra was the most advertised beer of the Games, with spots highlighting skiing, curling, bobsled, and hockey. Delta, meanwhile, aired 2.6K ads, with its most aired spot featuring clips of athletes ice skating, skiing, and snowboarding. They were the only airline with more than 300 broadcast airings targeting Olympics programming.
Advertisers who invested in spots were rewarded with big audiences, especially the men’s gold medal hockey match between Team USA and Team Canada, where the national audience averaged 24.6M viewers.
Despite occurring only once every four years, the Winter Olympics provide advertisers with a valuable opportunity to expand their consumer base and reach viewers who typically don’t tune into major sporting events.
For more coverage of the Winter Olympics, check out our analysis here
Our Favorite Season? Awards
The beginning of the year brings many of the major awards shows across movies and music.
The season kicked off with the Golden Globes on January 11 on CBS and Paramount+. Viewership for this year’s event hit 8.3M viewers, down from 10.1M in 2025 and 12.4M in 2024. Linear accounted for 66% of all viewers, while YouTube TV made up 18%, and other streaming platforms at 16% of the audience.
Next up was the Grammys, which took place on February 1 on CBS and Paramount+. The Grammys averaged 11.3M viewers, also down from both 2024 and 2025, where viewership averaged 18M and 17.6M viewers respectively. The Grammys averaged 11.3M viewers, continuing the broader year-over-year softness seen across major awards shows. Linear made up 61% of viewers, with other streaming providers making up 22% of the audience and YouTubeTV gaining an 18% share.
The Oscars closed the awards season on March 15 on ABC. Like the previous two awards shows, the Oscars posted their lowest viewership level in 2026, with 15.6M people tuning in. Comparatively, there were 17.8M viewers in 2025 and 17.2M viewers in 2024. The Oscars had the highest streaming audience, making up 46% of the audience. Linear made up 54% of viewers.
While the Oscars continue to bring in the largest audience among award shows, other award shows are seeking out ways to keep audiences engaged. New formats like streaming and a full transition to YouTube for the Oscars in 2029 will cause advertisers to rethink their approach. Ahead of next year’s awards seasons, brands should consider testing new formats and platforms to ensure they’re maximizing their opportunity with those viewers who continue to tune in.
For more coverage of the Oscars, check out our analysis here
Everything’s Bigger in Texas
The 2025-26 political cycle was already expected to set spending records for a midterm, with our projections estimating $10.8B in spending this year. The Texas Senate primary has only proved how expensive this midterm election cycle will likely be. Through its March 3rd primary, the Texas Senate primary saw $130M in total ad spending, making it the most expensive Senate primary on record. Republican spending accounted for $100.1M (76%), while Democrats accounted for $31.8M (22%).
Seeking his fifth term, incumbent John Cornyn (R) received $71.9M in total ad support, making up over 57% of overall spending. His Republican challengers, Congressman Wesley Hunt and Attorney General Ken Paxton, received $12.4M and $4.5M in ad support, respectively. On its own, Republican spending in this race would rank as the second-most expensive Senate primary in history.
On the Democratic side, spending was concentrated behind eventual winner State Representative James Talarico. He received $25.7M in total ad support compared to the $5.4M that supported Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
With John Cornyn and Ken Paxton set for a runoff in May, we expect more ad dollars to flow towards the Texas Senate race.
For our original coverage of the Texas Senate primary, check out our analysis here
Interest in Illinois
Illinois also generated significant interest in the early months of the year. The Prairie State saw $127M in ad spending targeting its March 17th primaries, largely driven by an open Senate seat and five competitive open House seats.
Spending on the Senate race reached $58.6M, making it the most expensive Illinois Senate primary on record. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D, IL-08) saw the most ad support, at $29.4M, while eventual winner Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton (D) saw $16.4M in ad support, with Illinois Future PAC airing $15.2M in support of Stratton.
The five House races generated $40.4M, up 962% from House primary spending in Illinois in the last cycle. State Senator Laura Fine (D), running in the 9th Congressional district, saw the most ad support out of all the House contests in Illinois, at $6.7M. Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller (D), running in the 2nd district, received the second most ad support with $6.1M in total spending.
Across all Congressional primaries in the state, Donald Trump and ICE were the most popular messaging themes, representing 70% and 26% of all broadcast airings, respectively.
For our original coverage of the Illinois Congressional primaries, check out our analysis here
Baseball’s Global Showcase
The World Baseball Classic, which took place from March 4 to 17, brought together 20 teams from across the world to compete for a championship. Team USA advanced to the finals, setting viewership records along the way.
Team USA’s semifinal matchup against the Dominican Republic on March 15, averaged 9.6M viewers. Streaming made up 59% of total viewership, while linear made up 41%.
The championship final against Team Venezuela on March 17, averaged 13.9M viewers, a 48% increase from the semifinal game, with 53% watching on linear television. This game became the most-viewed World Baseball Classic game on record, suggesting a strong future for the tournament’s popularity when it comes around again in 2029. Advertisers seeking out global baseball fans should start planning now.
Streaming Cuts The Net For March Madness Viewership
The NCAA March Madness tournament continues to be a major draw for both audiences and advertisers. Viewership increased year-over-year at each stage of the tournament.
AdImpact viewership estimates found the Elite Eight weekend averaged 13.9M viewers, with the most-watched game, Duke vs. UConn, drawing 16.1M viewers. The Final Four also delivered strong audiences, with UConn vs. Illinois averaging 16.3M viewers and Michigan vs. Arizona reaching 20.2M viewers.
The championship matchup between UConn and Michigan drew an average audience of 25M viewers, marking the largest audience for an NCAA Men’s Basketball game this decade.
A clear trend throughout the tournament was the growing dominance of streaming. From the Elite Eight onward, connected TV (CTV) accounted for the majority of viewership in each game. During the championship, streaming made up 57% of the total audience, led by YouTube at 31% and other streaming platforms at 26%.
Similarly, the Elite Eight saw streaming account for a slight majority of viewership at 51%, with YouTubeTV contributing 29% and other platforms 22%.
NEW: The Cook Political Report Battleground Issue Tracker — powered by AdImpact
AdImpact partnered with Cook Political Report to launch a new tool to track the most important issues shaping the races for the Senate and the House in 2026.
Each week, The Cook Political Report Battleground Issue Tracker — powered by AdImpact — will rank the top issues featured in broadcast campaign advertising in every Senate and House contest rated by the Cook Political Report as Toss-Up or Lean. These rankings will be available both by dollars spent and by total ad airings.
Check out the Cook Political Battleground Issue Tracker here
Read Cook's latest analysis using the Battleground Issue Tracker here
What This Means for You
Tentpole television events like the Super Bowl, March Madness, and awards shows still generate massive audiences across linear and streaming platforms. Special events like the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic provide unique opportunities to get new advertisers involved and reach audiences who don’t always tune in. With the World Cup taking place this summer, advertisers have another opportunity to reach a wide, highly engaged audience.
As advertisers plan around live sports and the 2026 midterm elections, cross-platform television campaigns can help them reach the widest audience possible. While streaming continues to gain in popularity, linear still plays a pivotal role in television advertising. By taking a balanced approach and leaning into the advantages provided by each channel, brands can maximize their ad spending.
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METHODOLOGY
Viewership data is generated from data collected through AdImpact’s Advanced TV panel of monitored Smart TVs. This data includes viewing patterns and devices tracked using automated content recognition (ACR) technology.
The distinction between linear and non-linear content is based on whether it’s viewed via a set-top box, direct cable connection, or antenna (linear) or through a TV native app or OTT streaming device (non-linear). This data specifically focuses on live programming for the event and excludes non-live content.