Last year’s Super Bowl LVIII, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers, was only the second in NFL history to go into overtime. While a rare occurrence, overtime ads are part of the business of the Super Bowl and a way for advertisers to grab additional time during one of the most-watched nights on TV.

Brands can pre-negotiate Super Bowl overtime deals to secure ad space if the game extends. This year, Fox invited offers on pre-set overtime deals, which ultimately ranged from $5 million to $6 million for 30 seconds of ad time, according to three media buyers.

Brands paid between $7 million and $8 million for 30 seconds of national air time during regulation. Fox didn’t respond to a request for comment on its Super Bowl negotiations by deadline.

While some brands had pre-negotiated overtime ad space last year (in the range of $4 million, Ad Age reported at the time), some media buyers described doing real-time negotiations during Super Bowl LVIII’s fourth quarter when overtime looked likely.

Also read: Inside Tubi Super Bowl ad deals

Keep reading for details on how deals in 2024’s Big Game happened.

Inside Super Bowl LVIII overtime ad buying

The beginning of last year’s faceoff between the 49ers and Chiefs began slowly, which Nickelodeon’s playful simulcast poked fun at when it displayed an on-screen graphic that read, “3 hours later … finally scored a TD,” referring to the Chiefs’ first touchdown of the game during the third quarter. But the Big Game picked up in its final quarter, when the Chiefs caught up to the 49ers in the final seconds, leading to the second Super Bowl overtime in history (the first was in 2017, when the Patriots defeated the Falcons).

Some brands negotiated overtime units before the game, while others, such as Discover, bid on the inventory in real time during the fourth quarter, when the possibility of overtime was apparent.

“When working with our clients to plan their overall presence at the Big Game, we know it’s critical to think big picture and beyond the game itself,” Martin Blich, executive director of sports and live investment for GroupM U.S., said at the time. GroupM’s Mindshare is the media agency for Discover and its EssenceMediacom is the media agency for Universal Pictures, which also aired two spots in overtime. Bilch said they worked with brand partners both before and in real-time during the fourth quarter to land overtime spots. 

The brands advertising in overtime took different approaches to their commercials. State Farm, which won last year’s USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter, reprised its Super Bowl spot from earlier in the broadcast, cut down to a 30-second version from the 60-second spot that ran earlier in the game. Omnicom’s OMD handles media for State Farm.

Universal Pictures, which earlier in the night ran trailers for “Wicked” and “Twisters,” returned in overtime with trailers for “Monkey Man” and “Kung Fu Panda 4” 

Some brands managed to get overtime ad time without buying a $7 million spot earlier in the game. Progressive and Discover, which did not air spots in the first four quarters, appeared in overtime. Progressive’s ad brought back “Watch Party,” a football-themed spot starring hip-hop duo Kid ‘N Play, which originally launched last November. Discover aired a spot starring Jennifer Coolidge that ran in the pre-game.

Nielsen reported an average of 123.4 million viewers tuned in for Super Bowl LVIII, but didn’t specify how many watched during overtime. Measurement company AdImpact estimated a total of 115.5 million viewers watched last year’s game based on its smart TV device panel, and of that viewership, 114.4 million were still tuned in when the game entered overtime. The number slowly declined until 111 million witnessed the Chiefs claim victory.