• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

How Much Is Too Much for a Super Bowl Commercial?

Horizon Media’s Adam Schwartz on the amplifying value of a Super Bowl ad, MLB’s events strategy, and why the 30-second spot is still the backbone of television advertising.

Super Bowl
"The last three or four years, the demand for the Super Bowl has been absolutely outrageous. It’s been selling out quicker and quicker each year. It provides unmatched reach at scale. There’s nothing like it, there’s nothing that’s going to compete with it," says Adam Schwartz. Photo: Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images
John Ourand
May 19, 2026

Join Puck to listen to this article

The first Super Bowl spot that Horizon Media executive Adam Schwartz ever bought was in 2006—a half-minute that cost $3.5 million. A little more than 20 years later, Rita Ferro, Disney’s head of ad sales, was at upfronts last week disclosing that the cost for a 30-second spot in next year’s ESPN-broadcast Super Bowl has climbed to $10 million. Schwartz knows that’s crazy, but still sees it as absolutely worth every penny.