No More ‘Crypto Bowl’: Why You Won’t See Crypto Super Bowl Ads This Year
It felt like the breaks between the action of Super Bowl 56 were incomplete without at least one cryptocurrency commercial.
Left and right, various cryptocurrency companies were on hand during the Super Bowl announcing the – at the time – upcoming investment. The rise in commercials called this year’s game, “The Crypto Bowl.”
Matt Damon, LeBron James, Kyle Lowry, Larry David and other big celebrities appeared on millions of TV screens encouraging viewers to invest in crypto as the wave of the future and telling them how everyone got involved in the trend. There were four companies leading the charge: FTX, Coinbase, Crypto.com and eToro.
That won’t be the case in 2023. This year, there won’t just be fewer crypto ads than last year’s blitzkrieg of ads, there won’t be any. Why would that be the case? Here’s what you need to know about this year’s lack of crypto advertising.
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Why you won’t want to see crypto Super Bowl commercials
Cryptocurrency is in bad shape. Lawsuits have been filed against companies and spokespersons, one of the major crypto companies went under and share prices in bitcoin and other currencies have plummeted from a year ago.
Back in November, FTX went bankrupt, and a month later founder Sam Bankman-Fried was indicted on fraud, money laundering and campaign finance charges, according to the Department of Justice. When the news broke, several of the faces in these 2022 commercials faced class action lawsuits for their involvement in being brand ambassadors for the doomed cryptocurrency companies.
Fox executive vice president of ad sales Mark Evans told the Associated Press that there were a couple of crypto companies that were “booked and done” and two more “on the one-yard line” back in November, but when FTX went under and Bankman-Fried was charged, the agreements went unfulfilled.
“There is zero representation in that category on the day at all,” Evans told the AP.
According to ESPN, on Super Bowl 56 ads alone, Crypto.com spent $36.5 million, FTX dropped $36.7 million, Coinbase spent $31.6 million and eToro spent $7.2 million.
This year, Coinbase and eToro confirmed to ESPN that they would not have any ads during the big game, while Crypto.com did not respond to a request for comment.
That doesn’t mean crypto advertising is gone forever. As ESPN noted, markets have gone up and down, and cryptocurrency ads are possible
“Sometimes it’s just better to stop talking and let the industry sort itself out, calm down, the market stabilize, and then come back when you have a better story to tell,” iSpot’s head of strategy and insights Peter Daboll told ESPN.
