Automakers have retreated from advertising at the Super Bowl amid an uncertain market.
This will lead auto companies to have the smallest footprints in decades during this year’s event on 8 February.
“It’s definitely been on the decline,” said Sean Muller, CEO of ad data company iSpot.
“Autos are tightening their belts, and they’re probably pulling back on their budgets, and certainly that’s reflected. I think the Super Bowl is a good barometer for all of this.”
The drop has been an ongoing trend: automakers accounted for 40% of Super Bowl ad minutes in 2012 but declined to 7% by 2025, according to iSpot.
Only General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen are expected to advertise during the match between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, with their ads totalling only around two minutes combined.
Last year, the only automaker to advertise was Chrysler parent Stallantis, with two ads totalling three minutes.
The decline follows instability in the industry that started in 2020 during the pandemic, that were only heightened recently by tariffs and pullbacks in all-electric vehicles that have cost companies billions of dollars.
However, auto makers are still embracing other sports, accounting for roughly 60% of spend on live sports according to iSpot data.
Automotive executives told CNBC that a big deterrent from advertising at the Super Bowl was the hefty price tag, as it costs around US$8 billion (A$11.45 billion) on average for a 30-second ad.
“We are going to really spread our efforts, so money and creativity, over a year,” said Stellantis Chief Marketing Officer Olivier Francois, who is well known for past Super Bowl ads. “There’s no need for a peak or something in February.”
Nissan Motor, which advertised during the 2022 Super Bowal said it will experiment with parallel advertising.
The Japan-based automaker on Friday released a comedic, high-energy “Big Game” social media ad promoting a chips-and-dip holder for its Nissan Rogue SUV. The “Nissan Dip Seat” ad stars chef and “The Bear” actor Matty Matheson promoting the fictional product. It also promotes a sweepstakes to win one of the vehicles.
“One of the key things for us is that we wanted to kind of find a way that was more social in nature. It’s been a part of what our overall strategy has been this year,” Nissan U.S. CMO Allyson Witherspoon told CNBC.
Other auto brands, like Honda Motor, are looking towards the Olympics for their major ad spend through sponsoring the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams for the Winter Games in Milan this year, as well as at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Despite the pullback from automakers, NBC still sold out its commercial inventory months in advance, and the game is expected to pull in over 100 million viewers across broadcast and streaming platforms.
