Inside NBCU’s Super Bowl 2026 ad pitch and how media buyers are strategizing

NBCUniversal has already begun pitching Super Bowl 2026 ad inventory to its past Big Game advertisers, and some buyers are surprised at the cost. The asking price for a 30-second unit in the game, which will air on Feb. 8, 2026, is $7 million, multiple media buyers said on the condition of anonymity. That is flat with where negotiations started in recent years, despite consecutive years of viewership records and this year’s ad pricing high of $8 million. Moving early and competitively may be a necessity for the 2026 Super Bowl host as it pitches a huge portion of next year’s live sports tentpoles to TV advertisers against the clock of an uncertain economy. NBCU is simultaneously selling inventory for next year’s Big Game, the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, and the NBA All-Star Game, all of which air in February. It is also offering Spanish-language coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Telemundo next summer. Data-Driven Marketing Playbook Join us May 22 in NYC to explore how data powers marketing Learn more here While $7 million is the starting point for advertisers who have previously aired Super Bowl ads on NBCU, the media company is offering incentives for those that buy across multiple properties, said three buyers. One buyer said that while they haven’t negotiated potential discounts, they expect to pay less than $7 million for their client’s Super Bowl units if they commit to a mix of Olympics, NBA and World Cup inventory as well. The buyer added that the benefits may go the other way as well, such as lowering the minimum dollar commitment for guaranteed Olympics inventory, meaning inventory held to agreed-upon audience delivery terms. (NBCU also hosted the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics in the same month in 2022.) Host media companies have increasingly emphasized match spending in recent years as a strategy to boost ad revenue tied to the Super Bowl. Over the past few years, Super Bowl broadcasters have asked advertisers to match their Super Bowl spending in additional investment across their portfolios. In this case, accessing a $7 million Super Bowl unit would necessitate at least $7 million in spending among other NBCU inventory. “The match spend never used to be [the focus],” said the first media buyer. “It used to be you could give them a million or two here and there. ... Now, [the match spend] is where the networks seem to be capitalizing on bringing in overall investment and helping out the portfolio in places where they typically have trouble selling inventory.” The Super Bowl’s initial pricing may surprise buyers who expected prices to soar after Fox reached $8 million per unit for last year’s Big Game. “I thought that [NBCU] was going to come out crazy,” the first buyer said. But each buyer said they expect demand to ramp up in the way it did last year for Fox, escalating from early talks soon into the upfront, culminating in a brand waitlist that a second buyer said Fox “didn’t end up having to go far down.” Broadly, the live sports marketplace has continued to move faster and earlier, with the “Super Bowl moving earlier than it ever has before,” said a third buyer, repeating a sentiment shared each year since NBC last hosted the Big Game in 2022 and announced it had sold 85% of inventory in July the year prior. The demand has aligned with advertisers’ increasingly difficult need to reach large audiences simultaneously as they fragment across streaming platforms, and has also lifted demand for live events such as The Oscars or NBCU’s “SNL 50” celebration. But this year’s TV upfronts are approaching amid an uncertain economy, with volatility partly caused by President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, making marketers hesitant to commit to long-term deals, said the third buyer. Also read: With 80% of Americans concerned about tariffs, marketers must decide how to act Although that isn’t diminishing clients’ eagerness to be in next year’s Super Bowl, the buyer said media companies such as NBCU are smart to secure commitments early during a relatively healthy market because “it could turn and create issues—not necessarily for something like the World Cup, but for everything else.” Similarly, the second buyer said early talks to secure major live sports inventory allow their clients to secure must-have placements, which in turn gives them better leverage to negotiate greater flexibility in broader upfront talks with media partners should the economy worsen. Still, NBCU has an “irregular wealth of supply” in the live sports market, particularly for next year’s first quarter, and “that doesn’t change what the demand is within that window,” said the second buyer. The buyer said that although the Super Bowl, Olympics and the NBA All-Star Game are desired properties for advertisers, “it does create sales challenges” to sell out that amount of inventory. And many eyes will be on how well NBCU is able to partner with brands across the bunch, “making sure that they’re treating each property with the ancillary commitment—the news and social cycles—that they deserve,” said the buyer.

Inside NBCU’s Super Bowl 2026 ad pitch and how media buyers are strategizing

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