A 30-second Super Bowl commercial cost about $8 million in February 2026, with a handful of premium slots selling for more than $10 million, the highest rates ever reported for the game. The first Super Bowl, in January 1967, charged $37,500. This guide tracks the price from that first game to the 2027 broadcast, with our own cost-per-second and cost-per-viewer math added on top.
Network rate cards are private, so every number below is a reported figure from trade press and the networks themselves. Where sources disagree, we show the range and say so.
| Year | Super Bowl | Network | 30-second cost | Cost per second | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | I | NBC / CBS | $37,500 (NBC), $42,500 (CBS) | $1,250 to $1,417 | First game. A 60-second spot ran $75,000 and $85,000. |
| 1970 | IV | CBS | $78,200 | $2,607 | Roughly double in three years. |
| 1975 | IX | NBC | $107,000 | $3,567 | Up about 37 percent in five years. |
| 1980 | XIV | CBS | $222,000 | $7,400 | First time above $200,000. |
| 1985 | XIX | ABC | $525,000 | $17,500 | Past half a million. |
| 1990 | XXIV | CBS | $700,400 | $23,347 | Still below $1 million. |
| 1995 | XXIX | ABC | $1.15M | $38,333 | First year above $1 million. |
| 2000 | XXXIV | ABC | $2.1M to $2.2M | $70,000 to $73,333 | Dot-com money fills the breaks. |
| 2015 | XLIX | NBC | $4.25M to $4.5M | $141,667 to $150,000 | Audience of 114.4 million. |
| 2016 | 50 | CBS | $4.5M to $4.8M | $150,000 to $160,000 | Reports differ on the exact rate. |
| 2017 | LI | Fox | $5.0M to $5.4M | $166,667 to $180,000 | Reports differ on the exact rate. |
| 2018 | LII | NBC | $5.2M | $173,333 | Audience slipped to 103.4 million. |
| 2019 | LIII | CBS | $5.2M to $5.3M | $173,333 to $176,667 | Audience of 98.5 million. |
| 2020 | LIV | Fox | $5.6M | $186,667 | Reported as high as $5.6M. |
| 2021 | LV | CBS | $5.5M | $183,333 | Pandemic year, rate dipped slightly. |
| 2022 | LVI | NBC | $6.5M | $216,667 | Big jump after the dip. |
| 2023 | LVII | Fox | $7.0M | $233,333 | Record audience of 113.7 million. |
| 2024 | LVIII | CBS | $7.0M | $233,333 | Rate held, audience up to 123.7 million. |
| 2025 | LIX | Fox | $8.0M | $266,667 | Record 127.7 million viewers. |
| 2026 | LX | NBC | $8.0M average, a handful above $10M | $266,667 average | Sold out months ahead of kickoff. |
| 2027 | LXI | ESPN / ABC | Reported $8M to $9M (asking price about $10M) | $266,667 to $300,000 | Sold out in the summer of 2026. |
The record: $10 million and up
The highest price tag on record belongs to Super Bowl LX. NBCUniversal told the trade press that its head of global advertising and partnerships, Mark Marshall, sold a handful of 30-second slots above $10 million, a first for the broadcaster, while the average rate settled near $8 million. That average matches the 2025 rate on Fox, so the headline price did not move between those two games. The premium inventory is where the new ceiling appeared.
For the 2026 game, ad inventory sold out earlier than ever. NBC also bundled Super Bowl spots with the Winter Olympics, and Marshall said more than two thirds of its Super Bowl advertisers also bought Olympic time. Bundling lets a network hold the headline rate steady while still extracting more total spend from the biggest buyers.
How the price grew, 1967 to 2026
The first game carried two prices because two networks aired it. NBC charged $37,500 for 30 seconds and CBS asked $42,500. A full minute ran $75,000 on NBC and $85,000 on CBS. That first $37,500 is about $362,000 in 2025 dollars, so even after inflation a 2026 spot costs roughly 22 times as much as a 1967 spot. In plain dollars the multiple is about 213.
The rate crossed $100,000 in the mid 1970s, $500,000 in the mid 1980s and $1 million in 1995. It passed $2 million by 2000 and $4 million around 2013. Since 2015 it has nearly doubled, from about $4.25 million to $8 million. Using the 2000 and 2026 anchor points, the price compounded at about 5.3 percent a year. Between 2015 and 2026 it grew about 5.9 percent a year.
Our math: cost per second and per viewer
| Year | 30-second rate | Average audience | Cost per 1,000 viewers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | $4.25M | 114.4M | $37 |
| 2018 | $5.2M | 103.4M | $50 |
| 2019 | $5.2M | 98.5M | $53 |
| 2020 | $5.6M | 99.9M | $56 |
| 2021 | $5.5M | 91.6M | $60 |
| 2022 | $6.5M | 101.1M | $64 |
| 2023 | $7.0M | 113.7M | $62 |
| 2024 | $7.0M | 123.7M | $57 |
| 2025 | $8.0M | 127.7M | $63 |
| 2026 | $8.0M | 124.9M | $64 |
Per second, a spot in 2026 cost an average of about $266,667. In 1967 it was about $1,250 on NBC. Put another way, one second of Super Bowl airtime in 2026 cost more than the whole 30-second slot in 1975.
Cost per viewer tells the less flattering story. We divided the headline rate by the average audience for each game. The audience figures are Nielsen numbers reported by the networks, and the method ignores streaming bonuses and the fact that audiences peak above their average.
Between 2015 and 2026 the audience grew about 9 percent. The price grew about 88 percent. Advertisers are paying much more to reach each viewer than they did a decade ago. That is the pricing power of the last event that still pulls 120 million people into one live broadcast. The 2026 game, which Seattle won 29-13 over New England, averaged 124.9 million viewers and peaked at 137.8 million in the second quarter, the highest peak for any US television program.
Super Bowl LXI in 2027
Disney’s ESPN and ABC will carry the February 2027 game, and the company announced a sellout in the summer of 2026, covering 58 brands across 34 categories, nine of them first-time Super Bowl advertisers. Disney did not publish a price. Reports said it first asked for about $10 million per 30 seconds, met pushback, and settled for many units in the $8 million to $9 million range. Treat that as a reported range, not a rate card.
If the lower half of that range holds, the 2027 price will be flat against 2025 and 2026. A flat headline number would be the first plateau since 2023 and 2024, when the rate sat at $7 million both years.
Three phases of the price
From 1967 to 1995 the rate rose from $37,500 to $1.15 million, a thirty-fold climb in 28 years. From 1995 to 2015 it climbed to about $4.25 million, a rise of roughly 270 percent. From 2015 to 2020 it added another 32 percent, reaching $5.6 million, and from 2020 to 2026 it added about 43 percent more.
The surprise is how steady the drift is. Recessions, a pandemic, a halftime scandal or two and the arrival of streaming have barely bent the line. The audience is the reason: the game broke its own viewership record in 2025 with 127.7 million viewers and came within three million of it in 2026.
Gaps in our table are deliberate. For the years between the anchor points, we found only single-source figures that disagreed with each other, and we would rather show a gap than a guess.
The ticket is only the start
The airtime is a fraction of the bill. One estimate puts the all-in cost of a Super Bowl spot at $12 million to $20 million once production, talent fees, agency work and pre-release promotion are counted. We treat that as a single-source range, but it fits what brands tell the trade: a celebrity cast or a cinematic shoot can cost as much as the airtime itself. Our guide to the most expensive commercials ever made covers that production side.
How to read a Super Bowl rate
A rate is a starting point, not an invoice. Buyers who commit early, buy packages or place several spots get different terms, and networks move the best positions, such as the slot right after kickoff or the two-minute warning, at a premium. That is how a game can have an $8 million average and a handful of $10 million sales at the same time.
The headline rate also hides a sports-calendar quirk. The game airs on a rotating basis, so each network sets its own price for its turn. The 2025 rate on Fox and the 2026 rate on NBC landed in the same place, which suggests the market, not any single network, is setting the number. Disney’s 2027 pricing will show whether that holds when a new seller takes over.
What drives these prices
- Scarcity of live audiences. Almost nothing else on US television still delivers 100 million people at once, so networks sell the game as a category of one.
- Sellouts before the season. NBC and Disney both sold out months before kickoff, so networks set the price first and fill the inventory second.
- Bundling. Olympic packages, streaming rights and digital extensions let a network hold the rate steady and raise revenue anyway.
- Streaming reach. About 43.5 percent of the 2025 audience watched through streaming, which gave the networks another argument for annual increases.
- Audience dips. The few soft spots in our table, 2021 above all, track a smaller audience, not a falling market.
FAQ
How much does a Super Bowl commercial cost in 2026?
A 30-second spot in Super Bowl LX averaged about $8 million on NBC in February 2026, with a handful of slots selling for more than $10 million.
How much did the first Super Bowl commercial cost?
In January 1967, a 30-second spot cost $37,500 on NBC and $42,500 on CBS. A 60-second spot ran $75,000 and $85,000.
What is the most expensive Super Bowl ad ever sold?
The highest reported rates are the $10 million-plus slots sold for Super Bowl LX, a record for NBCUniversal. The average rate that year was about $8 million.
How much will a Super Bowl 2027 ad cost?
Disney, which carries Super Bowl LXI on ESPN and ABC, has not published a price. Trade reports say spots sold for about $8 million to $9 million after an initial asking price near $10 million.
How much does a Super Bowl ad cost per second?
At $8 million for 30 seconds, one second costs about $266,667. In 1967 it was roughly $1,250.
Why are Super Bowl commercials so expensive?
The game is the last live event that reliably draws more than 120 million US viewers, networks sell out months ahead, and bundled deals let them hold or raise prices every year.
How we put this list together
We compiled reported 30-second rates for each game from network statements, trade reporting and public ad-industry data, and ranked nothing: the table runs in date order. Rates are approximate, change by slot and buyer, and our cost-per-second and cost-per-viewer figures are our own calculations.
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Last updated: October 2026.
