Millions of fans of American football watching the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII will reportedly not see many ad spots featuring cryptocurrency exchanges on Feb. 11.
According to a Feb. 2 CNN report, many companies that announced ad spots for the big game in 2024 are not associated with financial technology. According to Paul Hardart, a clinical professor of marketing for New York University’s Stern School of Business, “fun, humor and entertainment” will likely be the theme of ads for Super Bowl LVIII, in a “notable shift away” from artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto firms.
During Super Bowl LVI in 2022, crypto firms — including FTX, eToro, Crypto.com and Coinbase — debuted ad spots. Comedian Larry David said in 2024 that he was “an idiot” for appearing in the humorous FTX ad, which resulted in several lawsuits filed by investors following the collapse of the crypto exchange.
During Super Bowl LVII in 2023, the first game following bankruptcy filings from several crypto firms and a significant market downtown, ads mentioning digital assets were noticeably absent. The ad spots slated to appear in 2024 included those for BMW, Budweiser, State Farm, Oreo, DoorDash and Hellman’s Mayonnaise. Prices for a 30-second spot will reportedly cost up to $7 million.
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The game is expected to draw a massive audience in part due to the attendance of singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, whose partner Travis Kelce plays tight end for the Chiefs. Swift will fly directly to Las Vegas from Japan, where she has a concert scheduled roughly a day before kickoff.
Some of the most famous — and infamous — advertisements in the space include actor Matt Damon’s “Fortune Favors the Brave” ad for Crypto.com in October 2021 and spots from sports stars Shaq and Naomi Osaka promoting FTX in 2022.
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