Volkswagen is one of three automakers expected to advertise during the 2026 Super Bowl.
Courtesy of VW
DETROIT – Automakers are staying away from advertising during this year's Super Bowl amid uncertainty in the U.S. auto industry over sales, tariffs and regulations.
Automakers, historically major buyers of ads during the big game, have been inconsistent with advertising during the Super Bowl in recent years, with only a handful running ads each year.
“It's definitely been on the decline,” said Sean Muller, CEO of advertising data company iSpot. “Cars are tightening their belts and probably cutting their budgets, and that's certainly reflected. I think the Super Bowl is a good barometer for all of this.”
Automakers accounted for 40% of Super Bowl advertising minutes in 2012, but that fell to 7% by 2025, according to iSpot. Only three automakers are expected to air ads, totaling about two minutes, during this year's game.
Tim Mahoney, a veteran automotive marketing executive, said it's a balancing act when it comes to Super Bowl advertising. He said a company must have the right product, advertising campaign and, of course, capital to stand out and get a return on its investment.
“The Super Bowl is just a huge platform, but it's become very expensive,” Mahoney, who has worked for GM, VW, Subaru and Porsche, told CNBC. “Sometimes there are interesting ways to navigate it… Adjacencies can be clever.”
During Mahoney's tenure, Subaru became the title sponsor of Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl and GM's Chevrolet brand “blacked out” television screens just before the Super Bowl for an ad for its in-vehicle Wi-Fi in 2015.
Outside of the Super Bowl, automakers have increased sports advertising and embraced more regional and streaming advertising with national reach, according to iSpot.
“They're not cutting live sports,” Muller said, citing iSpot data that automakers now account for about 60% of live sports spending.
cars outside
Auto executives who spoke to CNBC about not advertising during this year's Super Bowl said they were deterred by the cost ($8 million on average for a 30-second ad) and felt their advertising dollars would be better spent elsewhere.
“We're really going to spread our efforts, money and creativity, over a year,” said Stellantis chief marketing officer Olivier Francois, known for his previous Super Bowl ads. “There's no need for a spike or anything like that in February.”
Stellantis, which is in the midst of a company turnaround plan, will focus this year on America's 250th anniversary as its main marketing push, along with increased business-oriented spending and a provocative social media campaign for Jeep featuring a singing fish that it launched this week.
Nissan Motor, which last advertised during the Super Bowl in 2022, is also experimenting with parallel advertising this year.
The Japan-based automaker on Friday released a comedic and high-energy “Big Game” social media ad promoting a chips and dip holder for its Nissan Rogue SUV. The “Nissan Dip Seat” ad stars chef and “The Bear” actor Matty Matheson promoting the fictional product. It also promotes a raffle to win one of the vehicles.
“One of the key things for us is that we wanted to find a way that was more social in nature. It's been part of our overall strategy this year,” Nissan US CMO Allyson Witherspoon told CNBC.
Witherspoon declined to discuss the cost of the ad, but confirmed it was less than she would have spent to air a traditional Super Bowl ad.
Others, like HondaEngineThey will consider the Olympic Games as their main advertising investment. Honda is sponsoring the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams for the Milan Winter Games this year, as well as the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
“The Super Bowl is a moment in time. The Olympics have so many verticals that you can dive into and tell these stories,” said Ed Beadle, who heads marketing for American Honda Motor.
The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics took place on Friday in Milan. It also begins a month that Comcast NBCUniversal, which will broadcast the Olympics, Super Bowl and NBA All-Star weekend, has coined “legendary February.”
2026 ads
GM remains a wild card for this year's game, as it is the only automaker that did not release its announcement in advance. The Detroit automaker is using the Super Bowl to launch its Cadillac F1 team, including revealing the look of its first liveried car to a national audience.
The automaker showed off a design prototype of the vehicle in Detroit last month, including at the city's auto show, but has not released any information about the commercial.
Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, is expected to air two 30-second ads focused on family connections.
One called “Superhero Belt” shows a grandson and grandfather swapping roles over the years and telling each other to fasten their seat belts. The other features athletes, including NFL wide receiver Puka Nacua, meeting their younger selves.
Volkswagen's ad resurrects the automaker's well-known campaign from the 1990s for a new generation of customers, as part of a marketing campaign called “The Big Invitation: Drivers Wanted.”
The new campaign, which includes a 30-second Super Bowl ad, features many of the automaker's vehicles driving to the tune of House of Pain's 1992 hit, “Jump Around.”
—CNBC Liliana Rizzo contributed to this report.
Disclosure: CNBC parent Versant airs Olympic coverage produced by NBC Sports on its networks, including USA Network and CNBC.
