Netflix has an off and on again relationship with the Super Bowl which is dubbed as the biggest sporting event of the year in the United States. It’s a time where companies spend a fortune for a small bit of time to sell their product or service. So let’s go back and look at all of Netflix’s entries since 2014.
While this list isn’t extensive given the fact Netflix quite often skips the chance to put its ads on the big event, it’s still an interesting look back at Netflix’s attempts when it has opted to get involved.
Why doesn’t Netflix get involved more? Well, it probably comes down to ROI for the money it costs to put an ad up. A 30-second spot in 2021 for example will set you back a cool $5.5 million.
Full List of Netflix Super Bowl Ads Over The Years
2014 – General Platform Ad
Back in 2014, just a year after it got into the content game itself, Netflix ads were primarily used to promote its slate of licensed content. In the 30-second spot, they advertise many titles that have long departed Netflix including Sons of Anarchy, Hugo, Mission Impossible, Thor, Transformers, True Grit, and The Office.
2015-2016 – No ads
2017 – Stranger Things 2
After the success of Stranger Things season 1, massive anticipation was growing for Stranger Things season 2.
The 30-second spot gave us some first glimpses as to what we would eventually get to see in October later in the year.
We should also mention Super Bowl LI was heavily featured in the documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two that released in September. It followed the preparations that Lady Gaga took to make the half-time performance happen.
2018 – Cloverfield: Paradox
This ad, without a doubt, was Netflix’s best and most exciting Super Bowl ad to date.
The reason we say that is because of how it went down. The Cloverfield Paradox was a movie that was rumored to be in development for a while but it wasn’t until the night of the Super Bowl when this trailer dropped revealing it was not only coming to Netflix but would be available within the next few hours.
Although The Cloverfield Paradox turned out to be slammed by critics, the nature of this ad was certainly exciting and completely unexpected.
2019 – Our Planet: One Team
2019’s Super Bowl ad from Netflix could potentially be the last the streamer ever puts out.
This year’s spot was remarkably smaller than the years previous opting to highlight Netflix’s first real foray into the nature documentary space with David Attenborough’s Our Planet.
2020-2021 – No Ad
Netflix didn’t see a major Super Bowl ad from Netflix which will continue into 2021. There have been no official reasons given and it wasn’t because Netflix ads are banned (which is the case on Disney-owned networks).
2022 – Netflix Movie Ad
Despite plenty of rumors in 2022 surrounding a potential Stranger Things season 4 trailer, the main trailer to air early in the game was advertising its 2022 movie slate which was revealed at the start of February 2022.
The trailer is a recut of that ad with a particular emphasis at the end of it on the March 2022 release of The Adam Project starring Ryan Reynolds.
The recut trailer also featured brief glimpses of the following movies:
- Knives Out 2
- Day Shift
- The Mother
- Enola Holmes 2
- The Gray Man
- Slumberland
- You People
- Me Time
- The School for Good and Evil
What was your favorite Netflix Super Bowl ad? Let us know in the comments.
