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Streaming-only Super Bowl ads give small brands a shot at the big game
A Super Bowl LX sign is seen at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026.
Stephen Lam | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images
The Super Bowl is prime real estate every year for advertisers eager to get their brands in front of millions of consumers at once. It’s also costly.
That’s why a small subset of ad space for streaming-only commercials is gaining traction and granting smaller brands time during TV’s biggest night of the year.
Comcast’s NBC broadcast network will air Super Bowl 60 this year, with the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots facing off from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, will simulcast the event. While streaming has generally become the overwhelmingly popular way to consume content, the Super Bowl is still primarily watched via the broadcast network.
The streaming simulcast — gaining viewers each year — features certain ad spots earmarked only for that audience.
Streaming-only spots make up about 10% of the full ad inventory during the Super Bowl and cost about half of what a traditional TV commercial goes for, said Mark Marshall, NBC’s chairman of global advertising and partnerships.
“So cheaper, but still not cheap,” said Marshall. “And part of it is also you don’t have many of these spots, right? So I think people caught on to this trick over the past couple years, and it’s done really well in streaming. And as a result, a lot of people are lining up and wanting to do that.”
Each year the cost of the national ads for the Super Bowl breaks a record. NBC sold out of ad inventory for the Super Bowl, averaging $8 million per 30-second commercial, with between five and 10 ads selling for more than $10 million each, CNBC previously reported.
The streaming-only ads, which still appear nationally, fill the slots that would host regional commercials during the traditional TV broadcast.
These spots bring in new advertisers outside of the mainstays like Budweiser and Lay’s. All of the Peacock-only commercials this year are new advertisers to NBC’s Super Bowl slate, Marshall said. For example, cowboy boots brand Tecovas and family location safety app Life360 both bought streaming-only ad spots this year.
The chief marketing officers for both brands noted the impact of the Super Bowl — as well as steep cost — in explaining their decision to go all in on Peacock.
Tecovas CMO Krista Dalton in an email called the company’s debut via streaming “a deliberate choice,” allowing the brand to get the impact of the Super Bowl with “a highly engaged environment while staying disciplined with our investment.”
Life360 CMO Mike Zeman said via email, “Streaming is a great way for us to test what being integrated into such a monumental cultural moment can deliver to our brand and business. It allows us to reach a massive, highly engaged audience of modern, connected families with an ‘out of pocket’ investment that doesn’t break the bank or occupy too large a percentage of our overall marketing budget.”
Last year nearly 128 million viewers watched the Super Bowl on TV and via streaming, according to Nielsen.
While NBC has had a digital offering for its last four Super Bowl telecasts, Marshall said more advertisers have been vying for streaming space as the platform reached 44 million subscribers.
And fittingly, that growth has been driven largely by NBC’s push into live sports. This month NBC will air the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics — which begin on Friday — along with the NBA All-Star game. It’s a live sports slate the company is billing as “Legendary February.”
“It’s obviously a huge year for NBC, and Peacock is more sold out than usual. We’re seeing a lot of brands leaning in with Peacock,” said Doug Paladino of ad agency PMG.
Paladino noted brands have seen good results advertising during “Sunday Night Football” games that are simulcast on Peacock, particularly due to the audience targeting capabilities on streaming.
The streaming-only commercials can also be something of an on-ramp for burgeoning brands that want to get their foot in the door of the big game.
Last year, direct-to-consumer health startup Ro bought its first ad during the Super Bowl — on Fox’s streaming service Tubi.
“The results that they got out of the Super Bowl for what they paid were an order of magnitude above what the traditional spot is,” said Philip Inghelbrecht, co-founder and CEO of ad tech firm Tatari, which worked with brands to place streaming-only and traditional TV ads in the Super Bowl, including Ro in both 2025 and 2026.
This year, Ro, which offers access to GLP-1 medications and telehealth appointments, ramped up its commitment to the Super Bowl and bought a spot in the traditional game broadcast on NBC. Tennis superstar Serena Williams will anchor the ad.
“Last year we dipped our toes into advertising in the Super Bowl through a buy on Tubi. It was a really attractive chance for us to really understand how our brand and our creative performed in that environment,” said Will Flaherty, senior vice president of growth at Ro.
Smaller brands have other more-affordable options to test the waters, too.
Manscaped, the men’s grooming company, decided to buy a spot before kickoff — a time slot less coveted than during the game itself, but still pricey — to push the next chapter of its business.
Manscaped Super Bowl LX campaign.
Courtesy: Manscaped
“Manscaped is a brand that has been around for a few years now, but we’re at this very important moment in our trajectory, which is a big push for products beyond the groin, which is our first claim to fame,” said Chief Marketing Officer Marcelo Kertesz. “We have something new to communicate to the world.”
“We know the spot itself is just one piece of it, a very important and very expensive piece of it, but it does make sense for us to do that in this moment,” said Kertesz. “It’s a desire I would guess all brands, at some point, have to be on that stage.”
Disclosure: CNBC parent Versant is carrying NBC Sports-produced Olympic coverage on its networks, including USA Network and CNBC.
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A United Airlines plane approaches the runway at Denver International Airport on March 23, 2026.
Al Drago | Getty Images
United Airlines flight attendants approved a new five-year labor contract with 31% average raises to base pay by August and other improvements, marking the last of the major carriers with unionized flight crews to reach a deal post-Covid.
The labor deal would give United’s roughly 30,000 flight attendants their first raises in close to six years. The company and the flight attendants’ union reached a preliminary deal in March. Crews had rejected a contract last year.
The union said the contract won 82% approval from the flight attendants, with close to 90% of them voting.
“The contract will immediately change the lives of United Flight Attendants, especially our thousands of new hires who have been hired since the pandemic,” said Ken Diaz, president of the United chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants.
The contract also includes boarding pay, or pay for when the aircraft’s door is open and travelers are getting on. Airlines had for years started flight attendants’ pay clock once the boarding door was closed.
The contract comes with a roughly 7% to 8% increase in compensation and $741 million in back pay, as well as quality-of-life improvements like restrictions on red-eye flights and “sit pay” during disruptions of more than 2½ hours.
Stocks struggled on Tuesday, although blue chips proved resilient, amid a triple whammy of domestic political strife, surging US inflation and a lack of progress in the Middle East.
The FTSE 100 closed down just 4.11 points at 10,265.32. The FTSE 250 ended down 341.66 points, 1.5%, at 22,466.20, and the AIM All-Share fell 11.75 points, 1.4%, at 810.66.
The pound fell to 1.3505 dollars on Tuesday afternoon from 1.3651 dollars on Monday. Against the euro, sterling was lower at 1.1517 euros from 1.1584 euros on Monday.
The yield on UK 10-year gilts traded at 5.10%, up from 5.01% the day before.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defied calls for him to quit, despite a growing number of Labour MPs demanding that he steps aside.
“The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered,” Sir Keir told ministers during crunch talks over his future, as no one person has stepped forward to challenge him yet.
“The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a Cabinet,” he added.
More than 80 of Labour’s 403 MPs have now called for Sir Keir to quit immediately, or to set out a timetable for his resignation, including some ministers.
Banks sold off, amid reports of a possible windfall tax on the sector should there be a change at the top of the Government.
“Banks narrowly avoided a higher tax rate at the last budget, but our base case now assumes the UK banking surcharge to increase from 3% to 5%,” said the banking team at JPMorgan.
NatWest fell 3.2%, Lloyds Banking Group dipped 4.4% and Barclays declined 3.6%.
Meanwhile, the surging bond yields weighed on interest rate-sensitive housebuilders, with Barratt Redrow down 4.1% and Taylor Wimpey 2.4% lower.
Adding to the uncertain mood was another spike in the oil price as the impasse in the Middle East carried on.
Iran’s chief negotiator said on Tuesday that Washington must accept Tehran’s latest peace plan or face failure, after US President Donald Trump warned a truce was on the brink of collapse.
“Relations between Washington and Tehran appear to be more strained than at any time since the original ceasefire was announced just over a month ago,” observed David Morrison at Trade Nation, suggesting that hostilities could “resume at any time”.
Brent crude for July delivery was trading at 108.07 dollars a barrel on Tuesday, up compared with 103.70 dollars at the time of the equities close in London on Monday.
In Europe on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 1.0%, and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt declined 1.6%.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5%, the S&P 500 fell 1.0% while the Nasdaq Composite was 1.7% lower.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury widened to 4.46% on Tuesday from 4.39% on Friday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury stretched to 5.02% from 4.97%.
The impact of the Iran war was reflected in soaring US inflation figures for April.
Annual CPI inflation sped up to 3.8% in April from 3.3% in March, above FXStreet-cited expectations of a 3.7% rise.
Monthly, energy costs were up 5.6% in April after a 21.3% jump in March.
Excluding food and energy costs, core CPI was up 2.8% year-on-year in April, up from 2.6% in March and higher than an expected 2.7%.
Analysts explained that much of the upside in core inflation came from a spike in shelter costs.
TD Economics said the numbers reinforce why the Fed needs to remain “patient”.
“Even assuming a ‘more normal’ reading on shelter prices last month, core inflation would’ve still firmed relative to March. With secondary price effects from higher energy prices likely to intensify in the months ahead, we’re likely to see core measures of inflation drift a bit higher and hover around 3% through year-end,” the broker said.
While Bank of America said the latest increase means inflation is getting “very uncomfortable” for the Fed.
Following the data, Fed futures now place a 60% probability of a rate hike by March next year.
The euro traded slightly lower against the greenback, at 1.1729 dollars on Tuesday from 1.1782 dollars on Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 157.73 yen, higher than 157.01 yen.
Back in London, Vodafone fell back 7.0% after mixed full-year results with adjusted earnings short of hopes but adjusted cash flow ahead.
“In the stock market it’s often said that it’s better to travel than arrive, hence why shares in Vodafone dipped on robust-looking full-year results after a strong rally in the past 12 months,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.
Vodafone shares have risen 60% in the last 12 months.
Intertek led the risers, up 6.4%, as it said it was “reviewing” the latest takeover proposal from suitor EQT Fund Management Sarl.
Intertek has turned down three previous approaches from EQT.
On the FTSE 250, Greggs rose 8.0% after reporting higher sales in the opening weeks of 2026 and maintaining full-year expectations.
But Wickes plunged 12% after reporting mixed trading as wet weather weighed on retail demand at the start of 2026.
Gold traded lower at 4,663.87 dollars an ounce on Tuesday, from 4,733.27 dollars on Monday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Intertek, up 320.00p at 5,300.00p, British American Tobacco, up 255.00p at 4,634.00p, Compass Group, up 1.74p at 31.93p, Imperial Brands, up 104.00p at 2,832.00p and London Stock Exchange Group, up 328.00p at 9,348.00p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Vodafone Group, down 8.45p at 111.95p, 3i Group, down 116.00p at 2,400.00p, St James’s Place, down 52.50p at 1,154.50p, Lloyds Banking Group, down 4.28p at 94.06p and Marks & Spencer, down 13.60p at 308.90p.
Wednesday’s global economic calendar has eurozone industrial production and GDP data, the King’s Speech in the UK and US PPI figures.
Wednesday’s local corporate calendar has a trading statement from Spirax Group.
Contributed by Alliance News
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