There are two kinds of people who watch the Super Bowl: those that watch for the game, and those that watch for the commercials. To say the Super Bowl (and therefore its commercials) are huge, would be an understatement.

In 2015, Super Bowl 49 drew 114.4 million viewers or approximately 14 New York Cities worth of people. Out of the top 30 most watched broadcasts in US history, only two were not the Super Bowl (The M.A.S.H series finale and Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks, if you were curious). Not only does the Super Bowl pull an absurd amount of viewers, it pulls a very diverse audience as well. Because of this, the Super Bowl is very appealing to companies wanting to advertise.

So appealing in fact, that in 2021, Super Bowl 56 generated $434.5 million of in-game ad revenue. To put THAT into perspective, you could buy:

115 million gallons of 2% milk
13,000 Ford F-150s
The 530-foot yacht Dubai
But unfortunately only 3% of a new aircraft carrier, sorry.

Commercials have always been a large part of the Super Bowl. During Super Bowl 1 in 1967, a 30-second spot cost you a measly $37,500 ($313,000 in 2022). Now, a 30-second spot will cost you $5.5 million dollars. So yeah, NBC loves the Super Bowl. Let's take a stroll down memory lane at some of the more memorable commercials throughout the history of the Super Bowl:

Super Bowl I - Here is one of the ads that was played during the first Super Bowl (known then as just the AFL-NFL World Championship Game). This one gives you a good chauvinistic “Mad Men” feel: 1967 Good Year Commercial
Super Bowl XI - This is an ad from Xerox that is considered one of the first “viral” ads, as it was requested extensively after being aired: 1977 Xerox Monk Commercial
Super Bowl XIV - This Coke Ad from 1980 would become very popular and also be parodied at other Super Bowls years later: 1979 Coke Commercial
Super Bowl XVIII - Apple debuted their Macintosh computer with a commercial directed by Ridley Scott (yes, the same guy who directed Alien). This is widely considered one of the best Super Bowl commercials of all time: 1984 Apple Commercial
Super Bowl XXXIV - Dubbed the Dot Com bowl due to the large number of Dot Com company commercials. Here is one from Pets.com with the debut of their sock puppet mascot: 2000 Pets.com Commercial
Super Bowl XLVIII - In 2006, Doritos began a promotion that allowed people to submit their own commercials for a chance to air during the Super Bowl. This ad from 2014 was submitted by Ryan Andersen. For winning the contest, Anderson received $1 million and an opportunity to work on set during the production of the film Avengers: Age of Ultron. No too shabby for a $300 budget: 2014 Doritos Commercial
Super Bowl LVI - Now two commercials from this year’s Super Bowl.
2022 MetaQuest Vr Headset - This one really hits it home with the terrifying animatronics (similar to the nightmare band that used to be at Chuck E. Cheese) and the idea of everyone throwing on a VR headset to escape to somewhere better.
2022 General Motors Austin Powers - I want to add this one in because I think it may be the closest we get to another Austin Powers movie and it doesn’t take itself too seriously like a lot of the other commercials.

Nowadays, people will do whatever they can to eliminate ads from their media consumption (website ad blockers, premium subscriptions to streaming services, etc.) but the Super Bowl continues to be unique in that people flock to watch JUST the commercials. Let us know what some of your favorite commercials are from the past or this year's Super Bowl!

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