Super Bowl LVIII averaged 123.7 million viewers,, benefiting the advertisers who paid roughly $7 million for every 30 seconds of Super Bowl commercial airtime, according to AdAge.
With viewership up 7.4% from last year’s game, according to Nielsen, this year’s game was the most-watched Super Bowl of all time and the most-watched television event since the Apollo 11 moon landing. There were approximately 100 million more viewers for this year’s big game than the first Super Bowl in 1967. Nielsen also reported that about 3.5 million people watched the game through Univision and Nickelodeon.
According to CBS, which televised the event on Sunday, the main broadcast garnered the largest audience for a single network in American history. Super Bowl LVIII’s stream on Paramount+ also broke the record for the most streamed Super Bowl of all time.
The game drew many celebrities to Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, and the game’s commercials were equally as star-studded. From actor Michael Cera’s CeraVe lotion ad to Beyonce’s Verizon commercial, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce weren’t the only names talked about during Sunday’s game.
“I look forward to the commercials because I know that they are going to have celebrities,” said Alma Sanchez, a master’s student studying social work.”And they are not in their typical roles.”
Many Super Bowl LVIII commercials starred Gen Z celebrities, relying on social media trends to market their products. An ad featuring TikTok star Addison Rae showcased the internet celebrity enjoying Nerds clusters candy. Rapper Ice Spice appeared in a Starry soda ad, throwing hits at rival beverage Sprite.
Rook Campbell, a communications and advertising professor, said that one of the keys to appealing to Gen Z is to relate to them.
“If the campaign is something that creates content and people want to share it and spread it or return to it and it adds value or seems as a representation of the digital, cultural spaces or other that Gen Z is in, I think that those are some ingredients that are successful,” Campbell said.
Super Bowl LVIII commercials also appealed to the older generation of viewers. Alan Yale Abrahamson, a journalism professor and sports writer, said that his favorite Super Bowl ads didn’t feature Gen Z celebrities.
“I loved the Dunkin’ commercial,” Abrahamson said. “[I] thought it was hilarious. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, J-Lo and Tom Brady are not Gen Z. I also loved the Popeyes commercial. Same. Really funny. Ken Jeong is not Gen Z.”
With millions of dollars being spent, Super Bowl ads this year sparked plenty of controversy as well. From the Uber Eats peanut allergy, Scientology’s “Decide for Yourself,” to a Christian “He Gets Us” Jesus ad, many conversations were sparked about the appropriateness of some ads.
Regardless of the content of Super Bowl ads, their significance cannot be denied. For Carolina De La Torre, a second-year health science and engineering master’s student, the commercials are her favorite part of the Super Bowl, and “the best [ads] of the year.”
For Campbell, they’re interesting conversation topics.
“The Super Bowl and its brands are cultural pieces that sometimes we flock to and celebrate, and others, of course, go get food during that time,” Campbell said. “Then it becomes like the common text that we all culturally have consumed in one way and chatter about for a few days at minimum.”