Super Bowl Ads: A New Ruthless Game for Stars and Their Agents
Not just any A-lister will do, as reps from CAA, WME, UTA and NBCU’s Peter Lazarus reveal this year’s rules of negotiation
I cover top dealmakers for paid subscribers. I wrote about a fix for film’s mid-budget extinction crisis, the new foreign presales playbook for indies, the return of film crowdfunding, animation’s box office boom and who’s scoring big feature film deals.
The Super Bowl ad market is having its biggest year ever — but the economics behind it have fundamentally flipped.
Demand is higher, inventory sold out earlier and stars are more eager to participate. The twist? A-list talent is often getting paid less, brands are casting more conservatively and the real impact of a Super Bowl spot now extends far beyond the 30 seconds that air during the game — adding value to both the star and the brand.
“The Super Bowl is more than one of the world’s largest and most anticipated sporting events,” says Superconnector Studios founder and CEO Jae Goodman, who advises brands like AB/InBev, LVMH, Chime and Nike. “It’s one of the world’s largest and most anticipated media events.”
But, like everything else in Hollywood, the endorsement ecosystem is evolving too. I talked with dealmakers on both the brand and talent sides of Super Bowl campaigns, including top commercial endorsement agents Matt Wind of CAA, UTA’s Brett Duchon and Garrett Smith, WME senior partner Tim Curtis, and Range managing partner Carol Goll, plus Goodman, Hollywood Branded CEO Stacy Jones and NBCUniversal’s EVP of sports advertising sales and partnerships Peter Lazarus about what’s different this season, what they’ll be watching for on game day and what the winning point is for brands and talent as entertainment, advertising and sports programming become increasingly intertwined.
Here’s what I’ll unpack for paid subscribers:
The exact dollar range stars are making for Super Bowl ads, why it’s less than you’d guess, and how agents are getting more for some talent
How agents negotiate bespoke deals with no rate cards — and where leverage is won or lost
Which stars brands want — and why an ad during the Big Game has become a “status symbol” for talent
Why some major advertisers are sitting out Feb. 8 and eyeing 2026’s live-sports glut instead
What matters (almost) as much as money for A-listers evaluating ad opportunities
Why those clever movie-nostalgia plays (remember Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day-themed ad?) can backfire
How a star’s social media presence can tip the scales for brands that are targeting impressions in the billions
