Skip to main content
Business

How many Super Bowl advertisers have laid off staff?

A startling portion of tech advertisers have recently reduced headcount to cut costs.

Philadelphia Eagles players enter the field during Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, 2023. | Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation | Source: Getty Images for Roc Nation

The commercials are always a big part of watching the big game. And with 30-second spots running about $7 million (opens in new tab) plus untold millions in production costs, the Super Bowl is typically a place for only the most deep-pocketed marketers. 

Super Bowl LVII was a bit different. The current economic downturn means many of the tech and online marketers spending millions on football advertising have laid off employees to cut costs in the past year.

In fact, The Standard estimates that 48% of last night’s tech advertisers have reduced their head counts in the past year.

Looking back to last year’s Super Bowl, fully 77% of its tech advertisers laid off employees since the Rams took home the Lombardi Trophy. For 2022 and 2023 combined, 69% of tech marketers buying ads in the Super Bowl had cut staff.

In 2023, the number of online and tech firms buying space for the broadcast dropped by half. Crypto advertisers disappeared from the 2023 advertiser roster—FTX disappeared altogether, actually—as did other big spenders like Salesforce. 

Listen toSection 415
Today

Section 415: Ballers manager Aaron Miles on bringing a title back to Oakland

A joyful baseball player in a helmet and uniform sits in a laundry cart while teammates push and cheer around him in a dugout walkway.
3 days ago

Section 415: Cricket is on the rise in the U.S., and the Bay Area is a hotbed

A man with long hair tied back wears a red sports jersey, raises both index fingers, and holds the shirt collar with one hand.
6 days ago

Section 415: Steph Curry, Jonathan Kuminga, and a Warriors season preview

A Golden State Warriors player, wearing jersey number 00, dribbles a basketball on a court filled with seated fans.

Business software maker Workday’s spot featuring classic rockers like Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol and Kiss’s Ace Frehley was one of the most entertaining of the game. 

The Pleasanton company laid off 525 people last month.