Veteran Super Bowl Advertisers Have Slight Edge Over Rookies

Super Bowl LIX will feature multiple brands making their Big Game debut, including Duracell, Häagen-Dazs, Instacart, MSC Cruises, Liquid Death, Hims & Hers and more. And while there’s no denying the massive audience the game will deliver to all the brands, data from iSpot suggests the newcomers may have a bit of an uphill battle against veteran advertisers.

• From 2017-23, "rookie" Super Bowl advertisers (those that hadn’t advertised during the Big Game before) had 67% brand recognition, while veterans scored 76%.
• In 2024, those numbers were much closer – 76% for rookies and 77% for veterans.
• Veteran brands earned 5% more attention than first-timers from 2017-24, and their ads were also 4% more likeable.
• Those veteran ads were also seen as twice as funny on average (including ads that both scored and didn't score for humor).
• In 2024, first-time Super Bowl advertisers that saw success included Popeyes, Nerds and Drumstick. The ads from Drumstick and Popeyes both ranked among the top five funniest ads from the game, while Nerds’ “The Union” ranked third for “nostalgic,” thanks to its soundtrack, “Flashdance (What a Feeling)” by Irene Cara.