5 Biggest Super Bowl Commercial Spenders

Super Bowl advertisers have spent $2 billion on their spots over the past 10 years. The cost of one 30-second ad has jumped from $3 million in 2009 to $4 million last year, with annual Super Bowl ad revenue climbing to $292 million from $213 million during that span.

Wait, wasn’t there a recession in there somewhere? Well, yes, but the NFL managed to confine it to the 2010 Super Bowl, when 30-second ads fetched only $2.97 million but still managed to bring in more than $205 million after sponsors bought a Super Bowl record 104 ads.

There have been at least 45 minutes of ads shown during every Super Bowl broadcast since 2008. During last year’s game, they clocked in at nearly 52 minutes with some help from a brief blackout in the New Orleans Superdome. Meanwhile, 60-second ads have multiplied from just 10 in 2011 to 15 in 2012 and last year, making up 19% and 15% of all ads, respectively.

We went through Kantar Media’s statistics and found the five biggest Super Bowl ad buyers of the past five years. There are some surprises in there, but most parted with big money to be considered the Super Bowl’s usual suspects:

1. Anheuser-Busch InBev
Super Bowl ad spending since 2009:$145.9 million

2. PepsiCo
Super Bowl ad spending since 2009: $97 million

3. Hyundai
Super Bowl ad spending since 2009: $67.4 million

4. Chrysler
Super Bowl ad spending since 2009: $64.3 million

5. Coca-Cola
Super Bowl ad spending since 2009: $62.3 million