The commercials are always a big part of watching the big game. And with 30-second spots running about $7 million 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. 

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.