This year’s Super Bowl will once again be jammed with celebrity-filled commercials, but The Hollywood Reporter has learned that as the price of admission keeps climbing, advertisers are beginning to get a bit more judicious with where they are spending their marketing dollars.
A survey of CMOs, network executives, media buyers, agents and talent, are painting a picture of what to expect between plays during this year’s Big Game.
The cost of entry for advertisers seeking 30 seconds during this year’s Super Bowl on NBC has passed an eye-watering $10 million for some late buyers (most are paying around $8 million), and celebrities could end up feeling the pinch as the larger ad market tightens up.
Many brands are pulling back somewhat on their fees for talent in big game ads, seeking to do more with their stretched budgets, multiple sources familiar with this year’s market tell THR.
Super Bowl spots now have an all-in cost that starts at $12 million on the low end and can run north of $20 million on the high end, including the $8 million-$10 million buy-in fee for the network. The talent fees for stars have been a major driver of that cost inflation in recent years.
“Given that it costs $8 million dollars to purchase 30 seconds of media time, brands tightened their budgets,” says Tim Curtis, a senior partner at WME. “The days of a $10-or-15-million-dollar payday for a Super Bowl commercial are largely over, with some rare exceptions. The sweet spot now for A+ talent typically sits within that $3-to-5-million-dollar range, unless the creative idea is contingent upon one celebrity’s involvement.”
Still, the big names are “being paid appropriately,” one source stresses, lest anyone feel too bad for the A-listers.
Multiple sources say that brands are in some cases looking to get more bang for their buck by spreading their talent spend across an ensemble cast for their Super Bowl spots. This year’s game is expected to have a slew of star-studded spots, but with more small cameo roles for stars, which only require a few hours or a day on set, in many cases, and with fees in the five or six figure range, with some A-listers scoring low 7-figure paydays.
Ensembles not only allow a brand to spread their talent budget farther, but it also lets them bring in boldfaced names from different eras or platforms, from TikTokers and athletes to actors and musicians.
Matt LeBlanc, Jennifer Aniston and Jason Alexander in Dunkin’s ad.
Dunkin
“With the brands that are looking at more of an ensemble cast, they’re really trying to meet different demographics,” says Carol Goll, managing partner & head of endorsements at Range Media Partners. “So it might be a content creator that’s mixed in with an actor that is more iconic than an up and comer.”
“That’s where influencers come into play, where depending on different ages and demos, [brands] can hit a few different areas of focus,” adds UTA agent Brett Duchon.
Indeed, sources say that there is a small army of creators and influencers lined up for starring roles (like MrBeast for Salesforce) and cameo appearances across categories.
It’s not that there won’t be a slew of more traditional star-studded spots (there may be more than ever!) but lower fees for starring roles and more ensemble casts could deliver a slightly different feel than year’s past.
Stars, after all, want to be in Super Bowl ads too.
It’s a sign of having “made it” to the upper echelon of American popular culture. According to data from the media tracking firm iSpot, in 2018 only 30 percents of Super Bowl ads featured a celebrity. Now, that number has inverted, with about 70 percent of spots featuring stars.
“The Big Game is as big as it gets in the advertising world; where else do you have the undivided attention of over 100 million people? Being a part of that again is both surreal and invigorating,” Jon Hamm, who stars with Scarlett Johansson and Bowen Yang in a Super Bowl spot for Ritz crackers, tells THR. “As an actor, you know these commercials will be something people talk about not just on Sunday, but long after as well.”
“Everyone’s trying to have one that’s going to make a splash and impact and be memorable,” says Elle Fanning, who will star in a comedic spot for Hellmann’s Mayonnaise during the game. “I hope we’ll do just the same.”
So what should viewers expect to see?
Look for a slew of AI ads, both ads from AI companies and from spots that poke fun at the tech, as well as some ads that use AI to help create their spots, be it advanced deepfakes to de-age celebrities, or video models that create a commercial entirely.
In fact, one of the big ad stories ahead of the big game is a public feud between OpenAI and Anthropic. Anthropic is set to air an ad (created and filmed by humans!) that promises its Claude AI will always be advertising-free. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded angrily on X, writing that “I guess it’s on brand for Anthropic doublespeak to use a deceptive ad to critique theoretical deceptive ads that aren’t real, but a Super Bowl ad is not where I would expect it.”
OpenAI’s ad, he promises, will be “about builders, and how anyone can now build anything.”
Yes, the Super Bowl is turning into an AI ad war.
“I believe we could possibly see our first truly AI-orchestrated, integrated 360 activation,” says Kenny Gold, managing director and head of social, content and influencer for Deloitte Digital.
“From concept testing and narrative optimization, to media sequencing, creator amplification, social remixing, and post-game commerce, AI will act as the connective tissue across TV, social, retail, and experiential,” Gold adds. “And as recent AI-forward campaigns have shown, this won’t be risk-free: some brands will lean into overt AI use in their creative and accept potential backlash, while others will deploy AI more subtly behind the scenes to capture the upside without becoming the story.”
Not that any AI-led spots will succeed without that human element. Even Svedka, which says its ad is made “primarily” with AI, had plenty of human help.
“Creativity and creative storytelling and talent that brings nuances to humor and to comedic timing and to entertaining storytelling is going to be more important than ever, because AI is not quite there yet,” says Kerry Benson, Kantar’s senior VP of creative.
A number of pharma companies will buy in amid the GLP-1 boom, and multiple spots will lean into a nostalgic embrace of America, tied to both the country’s 250th anniversary this year, as well as the Winter Olympics, which will coincide with the game.
There are still plenty of A-listers participating (George Clooney, Johansson, Charli XCX, Bradley Cooper and Kurt Russell will all appear), and top-tier directors are involved too (Yorgos Lanthimos has a couple ads, as does Taika Waititi. Joseph Kosinski and Spike Jonze have spots as well).
“I’d say emotion always wins, be it humor, nostalgia, inspiration, that is the key ingredient behind winning Super Bowl work, work that cuts through, and that is exactly what we’re bringing this year,” says Ricardo Marques, VP of marketing for Michelob Ultra, which hired Kosinski to direct Russell, Lewis Pullman and Olympic stars like Chloe Kim in an action-packed spot filmed on an actual ski mountain.
Lewis Pullman and Kurt Russell in Michelob Ultra’s 2026 Super Bowl ad.
Michelob Ultra
“This year we are going to see more nostalgia-based commercials, more major pop stars featured in advertising, and several of our biggest movie stars,” says Curtis. “Expect to see work from companies focused on softening AI, more food delivery services and snack foods, more alcohol and beer spots, and the pharma industry continuing to lean in.”
And of course there will be lots of slapstick and over-the-top humor, as brands lean into the defining characteristic that seems to work year after year. iSpot says that about 70 percent of spots now feature humor, as brands pull back a bit on the more “heartfelt” emotions that once dominated the space.
“We’re going to show up wherever our fans are, and we’re going to make them laugh,” says Todd Allen, senior VP of marketing for Bud Light, which is bringing back Post Malone, Shane Gillis and Peyton Manning for this year’s spot. “We’ve got to make them laugh to be able to grab their attention, stand out, and then we’re going to connect with them in a meaningful way through our talent, and have them feel like they want to do anything to get their hands on that crisp, clean Bud Light.”
Post Malone and Shane Gillis in Bud Light’s 2026 Super Bowl ad.
Bud Light
And therein lies the rub. Despite the eye-watering cost and the investment required for talent, there remains nothing else like a Super Bowl ad for professional marketers, and they all want to stand out (as Fanning’s commercial co-star Andy Samberg calls the game, the “highest peak of all monoculture”). And standing out amid the crowd is tough.
“First and foremost, it has to be super entertaining,” says Georgie Jeffreys, the head of marketing for North America at Uber. “The message of the core takeout, we really believe, has to be at the center of it, versus being an afterthought, and the spot has to be memorable. And if you can get all three of them right, then generally, you stand a pretty good chance of breaking through, whether or not you have celebrities. Some of the best ads from the Super Bowls, even in recent years, have been ones without celebs. So I really do think if you can get those things, those three things, right, you’re in really good standing.”
And even if A-listers are seeing fees trimmed, the demand for talent that breaks through has never been higher.
“The Super Bowl can compress the time it takes for people to be ‘aware’ of your brand. Of course, you still have to deliver on that promise with a great product. But in one night, you can move from a brand most people have never heard of to one your mom is texting you about,” wrote Zachariah Reitano, the CEO of Ro, which has Serena Williams fronting its Super Bowl spot. “There is no other single marketing opportunity that can accomplish this. With today’s algorithms, even what goes ‘viral’ might be only in your bubble. During the Super Bowl, we all share the same bubble.”
In other words, the Super Bowl might be crazy expensive for marketers, and getting more expensive every year, but it remains money well spent.
“It’s still such a smart way to deploy their resources and money,” says Chris Hart, co-head of talent at UTA. “You can’t attract that many eyeballs in any other platform.”
Xfinity’s Jurassic Park Super Bowl Ad.
Xfinity
