Analyzing 2025 Super Bowl Ad Performance

Click here to view our blog last week looking at Super Bowl commercials within a historical context.

Now that Super Bowl 2025 between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles is in the books, we’ve revisited our analysis to see if our initial thesis still holds: recent Super Bowl ads, despite their skyrocketing costs, struggle to achieve lasting cultural impact.

With ad prices reaching an all-time high of $8 million for a 30-second spot, brands continued to gamble on creating memorable moments. But did any of them truly breakthrough? Let’s explore the results.

2025 Commercial Dataset

To ensure a comprehensive analysis, we updated our dataset with 16 of the most talked-about Super Bowl commercials from 2025. This includes high-profile ads like Peyton Manning’s Bud Light commercial and less-discussed ones from brands like Little Caesars and Ritz Crackers.

By incorporating a complete set of 2025 commercials, we aimed to identify the standout ads while normalizing the data for year-over-year comparison. Figure 1 below presents a histogram of our dataset, highlighting commercial distribution over time.

Figure 1: Histogram of Commercials Analyzed, Including 2025

A Reminder of Our Ranking Methodology

Our ranking methodology evaluates Super Bowl commercials by combining three key factors: post volume, sentiment, and emotional resonance, all normalized by cost. Post volume measures how much buzz an ad generated, while sentiment analysis determines whether the reaction was positive or negative. Emotional resonance digs deeper, identifying emotions like anticipation, trust, and love that drive meaningful engagement. Since Super Bowl ads come with massive price tags, we normalize these metrics by cost to assess which brands maximized impact per dollar spent. The final composite score, weighted toward post volume and positive sentiment, reveals which commercials truly broke through the noise, making them the most impactful ads of the last 15 years.

Figure 2: Ranking Methodology for Determining the Most Impactful Super Bowl Ads

2025 Analysis Results

As expected, 2025 continued the trend of Super Bowl commercials failing to generate the same cultural impact as those from the early 2010s.

On average, 2025 commercials ranked slightly worse than those from 2024, reinforcing our hypothesis that the modern Super Bowl ad is becoming less culturally significant. While there were a few bright spots, 2025 did not produce a commercial that rivaled iconic ads from 2010 or 2011, which saw true cultural breakthroughs.

We also observed that the modern media landscape, with fragmented attention and competing distractions, makes it increasingly difficult for even the biggest brands to own a Super Bowl moment. This isn’t necessarily a flaw in creative execution but rather a shifting cultural reality. Brands must now think beyond the traditional 30-second spot and consider how their campaigns live across digital and social media.

Figure 3: Average Rank of Commercials by Year (Lower Means Better Performance)

The 2025 Commercials That Performed Well

While the overall outlook remains middling, a few commercials resonated strongly with audiences.

Our composite ranking identified Jeep’s "Freedom" commercial featuring Harrison Ford as the top ad of the year. This aligns with previous findings that patriotic, emotionally driven car commercials tend to perform exceptionally well (e.g., Chrysler’s "Born of Fire" in 2011).

Additionally, Uber Eats’ "Conspiracy," and Starlink’s debut ad garnered significant social media buzz, though engagement sharply dropped after the top three. This trend of a few commercials dominating the conversation suggests that brands outside the top tier struggle to gain lasting traction.

Figure 4: 2025 Commercials Ranked by Composite Score

Interestingly, our analysis continues to show that humor and nostalgia-driven ads tend to perform well. Volkswagen’s "The Force" (2011) remains a cultural benchmark for Super Bowl advertising, and 2025’s Uber Eats spot followed a similar formula with its absurdist humor and viral potential.

Figure 5: 2025 Commercials Put Into Historical Context By Ranking Score (Top 25 Commercials)

Looking Ahead: Super Bowl 2026 and Beyond

For brands investing in Super Bowl 2026, strategic shifts may be necessary:

• Prioritize emotional resonance over celebrity-driven spectacle.
• Extend the ad’s lifecycle by integrating it into a broader campaign beyond Super Bowl Sunday.
• Leverage real-time social listening to measure impact and adjust future marketing strategies accordingly.
• Optimize spend for maximum impact by considering formats beyond the traditional 30-second spot.

Conclusion: The Power of Social Listening

The best Super Bowl ads don’t just entertain—they create cultural moments. Yet, as our analysis shows, achieving that level of impact is becoming increasingly difficult.

By using social listening tools like Infegy Starscape, brands can go beyond gut instinct and measure the true reach and engagement of their campaigns. The Super Bowl may still be advertising’s biggest stage, but success requires data-driven storytelling and a clear understanding of cultural trends.

Curious how your brand’s campaigns measure up? Start your journey with Infegy Starscape today and harness the power of social intelligence to drive real impact.

Key Takeaways

1. Cultural Fragmentation Continues to Weaken Impact

Unlike the early 2010s, when a single Super Bowl ad could dominate the cultural conversation for weeks, today’s fragmented media landscape makes it difficult for ads to achieve lasting relevance. Brands must now extend their campaigns beyond game day to maximize their investment.

The best Super Bowl ads today are part of more extensive, multi-channel campaigns. Brands that release teasers extend storytelling across social platforms and encourage audience participation often see greater returns than those relying solely on the in-game spot.

2. Super Bowl Ads Are an Expensive Gamble

With costs at $8 million per 30 seconds, the pressure to deliver ROI has never been higher. Our data suggests that unless a brand can break into the top tier of cultural relevance, it’s unlikely to see long-term value from its Super Bowl spend.

That said, social listening provides a powerful way for brands to measure success beyond just view counts. Using Infegy Starscape, brands can track emotional resonance, audience sentiment, and the longevity of social conversations. This deeper analysis can help inform future creative decisions and justify ad spending.

3. Emotional Storytelling Still Wins

The most successful ads of 2025 tapped into nostalgia, patriotism, or humor. Jeep’s "Freedom" and Uber Eats’ "Conspiracy" leaned into strong emotional narratives, reinforcing the idea that emotional engagement drives success.