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In an era of increasing media fragmentation, the Super Bowl remains one of the few live events that continues to capture a reliably large audience \u2014 last weekend, nearly 128 million<\/strong> tuned in for Super Bowl LX. It is also one of the few TV moments when viewers actually welcome <\/em>ads. Given the event\u2019s reputation for high-quality commercial storytelling, viewership of the ads themselves is nearly as high as that for the game; a survey by AdTaxi found that while 73%<\/strong> of viewers were interested in the on-field face-off, a nearly equal amount (72%<\/strong>) were tuning in for the commercials.<\/p>\n And this year, the Big Game also served as the kickoff for an unusually dense year of high-profile sporting events: the Winter Olympics already are underway, to be followed this summer by the FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n Given this year\u2019s expanded arena of opportunity, it\u2019s no surprise that marketers are looking at 2026 holistically: \u201cInstead of betting everything on a single in-game moment, marketers are stretching Super Bowl investments across weeks of pre-game drops, digital extensions, streaming buys and AI-powered personalization that extend well past the fourth quarter,\u201d according to MediaPost<\/em>\u2019s Sarah Mahoney.<\/p>\n They\u2019re also looking beyond the ad itself, a reflection of the growing ubiquity of \u201csecond-screen\u201d behaviors. The AdTaxi survey found that 70%<\/strong> of viewers consumed the game through multiple screens, with digital video (39%<\/strong>) and social media (33%<\/strong>) topping the list of second-screen sites, followed by sports websites and group chats.<\/p>\n All of this has shifted the dynamic marketers must account for when planning their Big Game moment: \u201cPeople\u2019s \u2018second screen\u2019 behavior is now the primary behavior. Viewers will immediately search for brands on their phones when they see the ad,\u201d said J\u00e1nos Moldvay, Chief Data Science Officer at marketing intelligence platform Funnel, in comments shared with Retail TouchPoints<\/em>.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s the Super Bowl, reach is guaranteed. This year, the defining metric will be \u2018share of search velocity.\u2019<\/strong> This means the speed at which you steal share from competitors in the 60-minute<\/strong> window post-airing. This is the truest proxy for mental availability and the strongest leading indicator for incremental sales in the weeks to come.\u201d<\/p>\n That search velocity doesn\u2019t immediately translate into sales, however. While 43%<\/strong> of respondents in the AdTaxi survey said ads drive interest in learning more or visiting a brand online, just 1%<\/strong> say ads lead directly to an immediate purchase, underscoring the importance of follow-up media.<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that the Super Bowl is no longer the pinnacle but rather simply the starting point for the brands and campaigns that will shape the year. And in that regard, two familiar acronyms dominated this year\u2019s show \u2014 AI and GLP-1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Both were major topics in 2025, and if the Super Bowl is any indicator, they\u2019ll continue to be front-of-mind in 2026. In particular, the arrival of the \u201cAI wars\u201d at the Big Game was hard to miss. Anthropic<\/strong>, Amazon<\/strong>, Google<\/strong>, OpenAI<\/strong>, Microsoft<\/strong> and newer players like Geospark<\/strong>, Base 44<\/strong> and AI.com<\/strong> all made their pitch during the game. In fact, AI.com had the top-performing ad of the event, according to TV measurement firm EDO, which reported that the company\u2019s introduction of itself to the world saw 9.1X<\/strong> more engagement than the median Super Bowl LX ad. In fact, the ad drove so much traffic that it crashed the website. Lay\u2019s<\/strong>, Dunkin\u2019 Donuts<\/strong>, Cadillac<\/strong>, Budweiser<\/strong> and Wegovy<\/strong> all also made the Top 10.<\/p>\n More familiar names in AI took varied tacks to make their case. Anthropic made waves even before the event with its series of ads lambasting OpenAI\u2019s decision to bring ads to ChatGPT while promising never to do the same on Claude (a risky move if you ask us, given that advertising has time and again proven to be the most effective way to monetize online platforms). Amazon had fun playing on the fears surrounding AI in its comedic spot with Chris Hemsworth. And OpenAI and Google Gemini both took the heartwarming route.<\/p>\nBig Game Marketing Must Now Account for \u2018Second-Screens\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AI Wars on Display: Anthropic Calls Out OpenAI, While Amazon Goes for Laughs<\/strong><\/h2>\n