Super Bowl ad waitlist—several brands vying for spot on Fox broadcast

Fox has created a waitlist for brands looking to buy Super Bowl commercial inventory, following what four media buyers described as unprecedented demand for this year’s game. While Super Bowl inventory has always been highly coveted, and the past four games have seen earlier negotiations and faster sales, the market for Super Bowl 2025 has been the most robust of one media investment leader’s multi-decade career, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Fox declined to comment on Super Bowl negotiations. Super Bowl commercials Tracking the latest brand and agency plans Click here The waitlist is believed to include 10 to 15 brands, according to two media buyers. Fox notified buyers that brands offered commercial time from the waitlist would be required to to commit additional spend across Fox’s portfolio, one buyer said. This would be on top of the requirement to spend the same amount as a Super Bowl unit cost—around $7 million for a 30-second spot—within the host media company’s portfolio, which has become the standard across media companies hosting the Big Game over the past few years. “This Super Bowl marketplace has been on a more rapid timeline and sell out rate than we’ve seen ever before,” said the second media buyer. All buyers spoke on the condition of anonymity. Join Ad Age on Feb. 4 for an in-depth look at the Super Bowl strategies and trends shaping the 2025 commercials. In a November earnings call with investors, Fox confirmed that it had sold out of inventory for the Super Bowl, which airs Feb. 9 from the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. But in Super Bowl speak, “sellout” can be a flexible term. The hosts of the past three games—Paramount, Fox and NBCUniversal—have all reported being “virtually” or largely sold out in relatively the same time frame, three months prior to their broadcasts (inventory for NBCU’s 2022 Super Bowl was said to be mostly accounted for as of September 2021). But the first media buyer said this is the first year “I can’t pick up the phone like I have in Januarys past and say I want a 60 [second spot] for my client. You can’t get it—you can get into what they’re calling a queue.” Super Bowl sales typically fluctuate because of its high cost, said the buyer. This year, a 30-second spot is selling for around $7 million, depending on broader deals with Fox, Ad Age previously reported. Marketers may pull out of the Big Game due to business or economic conditions, cold feet over how their creative is turning out or a desire to reduce their buys from 90-seconds to 60 or 30. For example, Fox reported a lag in sales for the 2023 game after announcing a near sellout, due to volatility in the crypto category after the implosion of FTX and worsening economic conditions. This year, the first media buyer said their clients are behaving in the opposite manner, eager to increase investment in the Super Bowl and bump 30-second spots to 60 or 90. As the TV ad market continues to navigate the transition to streaming, live sports has been a consistent source of demand given its ability to deliver large, aggregate audiences while other content verticals struggle with fragmented viewership. “The industry is really starting to realize what sports tent poles like the Super Bowl, Olympics, World Cup bring to the table right as as other ratings are declining—sports really is the only thing that we still have that’s stable either holding the viewership or growing,” said the second buyer, noting that NBCU has already begun pitching deals for the 2026 Super Bowl. “The market is moving quicker because the supply is not growing; it’s limited and only once a year.” The boost for this year’s Super Bowl may also point to consumer appetites for fun and communal content after a marathon of divisive or emotionally taxing news events, including the presidential election, New Orleans terror attack and California wildfires, according to the first buyer. The buyer said the heavy atmosphere has boosted sales for all live sports events, noting particularly that NFL games are consistently selling out and the March NCAA tournament already being well-sold with Warner Bros. and Paramount for the men’s tournament, and ESPN for the women’s tournament. Brands have already begun promoting their Super Bowl campaigns. Among them: Lay’s will return after a two-year hiatus, FanDuel will air a stunt featuring the Manning brothers and DoorDash will follow its buzzy 2024 spot that allowed viewers to win products from other Big Game ads. Follow all the brands buying Super Bowl ad time in Ad Age’s regularly updated Super Bowl Ad Chart.

Super Bowl ad waitlist—several brands vying for spot on Fox broadcast

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