Fanatics Betting & Gaming CEO Matt King discusses Superbowl betting, a commercial with Kendall Jenner and more on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Super Bowl commercials are reportedly aiming to target a non-traditional audience ahead of Sunday’s NFL title game.
Although the league’s championship game is often associated with older men, major brands are using the game to reach both Gen Z and female audiences with their latest ads.
“[I]if we had done something that didn’t speak to Gen Z or didn’t appeal to women, I think we would have missed the mark,” Laura Jones, Instacart’s chief marketing officer, told Variety on Wednesday.
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Pre-Super Bowl ads hope to reach a wider audience. (Photos by Kirby Lee-Imagn via Reuters/Reuters)
Super Bowl ratings reached record levels in 2025 with nearly 127.7 million people watching the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.
This broke the previous record set one year before 2024 of 123.4 million viewers.
With more viewers than ever expected to watch the Big Game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, major corporations are hoping to attract as many audiences as possible, including an increasing number of women.
“We’re seeing female sports viewership stagnate or continue to rise,” Mars Snacking executive director Diane Sayler told Variety. “And I think the networks and the leagues are getting better at telling the story of the players and telling more than just the story on the field. And I actually believe that’s what makes women so interested in this space.”
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The 2025 Super Bowl had a record number of viewers and more are expected in 2026. (Photos by Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
Companies have tried to bridge the age and gender gap through celebrity endorsements, often partnering with a few celebrities like actor Ben Stiller and singer Benson Boone to appeal to a wider audience.
“A lot of marketing today is very targeted. You have to deliver a specific message to a specific audience,” Tim Calkins, marketing professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, told Variety. “With the Super Bowl, that’s not the case, because you have a big different list. And the Super Bowl is very expensive and you really don’t want to miss a significant part of the audience.”
Media Research Center videographer Justine Brooke Murray told Fox News Digital that the new marketing strategy “is there” but urged companies to instead focus on avoiding divisive politics.
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Super Bowl LX will air on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in California. (Photos by Kirby Lee-Imagn via Reuters/Reuters)
“We want to be entertained, not sell some weird form of fitness that includes ads flashing sweaty armpits on the screen as we reach for another nacho,” Murray said. “Those of us who grew up in the 2000s, the zoomers, would like to see a return to the ads that sold us the things we really love: chips, and cookies — not a political agenda.”
He added, “The big companies have learned their lesson, that appealing to the gender-bending 0.0001% of our population with men in bikinis doesn’t connect with anyone. Be funny and keep the politics out of it!”
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Super Bowl LX will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
