Automakers largely sit out 2026 Super Bowl advertising (Because of bad bunny) amid industry uncertainty

DETROIT — Automakers are largely sitting on the advertising sidelines
during this year’s Super Bowl amid uncertainty in the U.S. automotive
industry involving sales, tariffs and regulations. 

Carmakers — 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 putting out spots each year. 

“It’s definitely been on the decline,” said Sean Muller, CEO of ad data
company iSpot. “Autos are tightening their belts, and they’re probably
pulling back on their budgets, and certainly that’s reflected. I think
the Super Bowl is a good barometer for all of this.” 

Automakers accounted for 40% of Super Bowl ad minutes in 2012, but
dropped all the way to 7% by 2025, according to iSpot. Only three
automakers are expected to air ads, totaling roughly two minutes, during
this year’s game. 

The decline corresponds with instability in the automotive industry.
That turmoil started in 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic and supply
chain issues and continued more recently with tariffs and pullbacks in
all-electric vehicles that have cost companies billions of dollars. 

General Motors
, Toyota Motor
 and Volkswagen
 are the only automakers expected to advertise Sunday during Super Bowl
 60 between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. 

Chrysler parent Stellantis
 was the only automaker to advertise during the big game last year, with
 two ads that were a total of three minutes. 

“The biggest shifts that are happening are between linear and streaming
and digital video. That’s occurring within pretty much every
advertiser,” Muller said. 

Tim Mahoney, a longtime automotive marketing executive, said it’s a
balancing act when it comes to Super Bowl advertising. He said a company
has to have the right product, ad campaign, and, of course, capital to
stand out and get a return on its investment. 

“Super Bowl is just a massive platform, but it has gotten so expensive,”
Mahoney, who worked for GM, VW, Subaru and Porsche, told CNBC. “There
are sometimes interesting ways to navigate around it. ... Adjacencies
can be smart.” 

During Mahoney’s tenure, Subaru became the presenting sponsor of Animal
Planet’s Puppy Bowl and GM’s Chevrolet brand “blacked out” TV screens
just ahead of 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 streaming and regional advertising over national
reach, according to iSpot. 

“They’re not cutting back in live sports,” Muller said, citing iSpot
data that automakers now represent roughly 60% of spend on live sports. 

Autos out
Automotive executives who spoke to CNBC about not advertising during
this year’s Super Bowl said they were deterred due to the cost — $8
million on average for a 30-second ad — and felt their ad dollars would
be better spent elsewhere. 

“We are going to really spread our efforts, so money and creativity,
over a year,” said Stellantis Chief Marketing Officer Olivier Francois,
who is well known for past Super Bowl ads. “There’s no need for a peak
or something in February.” 

Stellantis, which is in the midst of a company turnaround plan, will
focus this year on the 250th anniversary of the U.S. as its major
marketing push in addition to more business-oriented spending and a
provocative social media campaign for Jeep featuring a singing fish it
launched this week. 

Nissan Motor, which last advertised during the Super Bowl in 2022, is
also experimenting this year with parallel advertising. 

The Japan-based automaker on Friday released a comedic, 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
sweepstakes to win one of the vehicles. 

“One of the key things for us is that we wanted to kind of find a way
that was more social in nature. It’s been a part of what our overall
strategy has been this year,” Nissan U.S. CMO Allyson Witherspoon told
CNBC. 

Witherspoon declined to discuss the cost of the spot, but confirmed it
was less than it would have spent to air a traditional Super Bowl ad. 

, will look to the Olympics as their major ad spending. Honda is
sponsoring U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams for the Winter Games in
Milan this year as well as at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. 

“Super Bowl is one moment in time. The Olympics has so many verticals
you can dip into and tell these stories,” said Ed Beadle, who leads
marketing for American Honda Motor. 

The opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics took place on Friday in
Milan. It also kicks off a month that Comcast’s 
 NBCUniversal — which will be airing 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 the only automaker to
not prerelease its ad. The Detroit automaker is using the Super Bowl to
launch its Cadillac F1 team, including revealing the look of its first
livery car to a national audience. 

The automaker last month showed a design prototype of the vehicle in
Detroit, including at the city’s auto show, but it has not released any
information about the commercial. 

Toyota, the NFL’s official automotive partner, is expected to air two
30-second ads focused on family connections. 

One called “Superhero Belt” shows a grandson and a grandfather switching
roles over the years and telling each other to secure their seatbelts.
The other features athletes including NFL wide receiver Puka Nacua
meeting their younger selves. 

Volkswagen’s ad resurrects the automaker’s well-known 1990s campaign for
a new generation of customers, as part of a marketing drive called “The
Great Invitation: Drivers Wanted.” 

The new campaign, including a 30-second Super Bowl spot, features many
of the automaker’s vehicles being driven around to House of Pain’s 1992
hit “Jump Around.” 

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/07/super-bowl-ads-gm-toyota-volkswagen.html