The piece examines how sportsbooks are rethinking their Super Bowl advertising strategies as the U.S. sports betting market matures and acquisition costs rise. It highlights how brands like FanDuel, BetMGM, and Fanatics Sportsbook are making different choices about whether and how to buy extremely expensive in‑game Super Bowl ad slots—often around an average of $8 million for 30 seconds—and how they use celebrity‑driven creative and surrounding campaigns to maximize impact.
Major operators are becoming more selective about in‑game Super Bowl ads: FanDuel is shifting to a broader campaign that culminates in a pregame spot, BetMGM is skipping Super Bowl commercials entirely to focus on “higher‑value players,” and Fanatics is entering the field with its first Super Bowl ad featuring Kendall Jenner.
With Super Bowl inventory costing about $8 million for a 30‑second spot, sportsbooks are relying on integrated campaigns—early online releases, social media buzz, and promotions like bonus bets, bet‑and‑get offers, and insured wagers—to stretch the value of their creative beyond a single airing.
As Matthew Bakowicz notes, operators feel they have already captured much of the addressable market, so ad strategies are “switching” from blanket national awareness toward more targeted, ROI‑driven acquisition and retention, even around the biggest TV event of the year.
“Advertisements are switching a little bit in the sports‑betting world because they’ve already captured a vast majority of the market,” said Matthew Bakowicz, emphasizing that marketing remains sportsbooks’ largest expense.
Read the article.