Why Streaming Was the Real MVP at this Year’s Super Bowl

As expected, this year’s Super Bowl shattered records. Not just for The Philadelphia Eagles, who upset the Kansas City Chiefs to take home the Lombardi Trophy, but for the advertisers that reached a massive, unparalleled viewing audience. Over 126 M viewers tuned in for the big game on Sunday night, making it the most-watched Super Bowl ever.

This year marked the first time ever that the Super Bowl was also streamed at no cost on FOX’s free-ad-supported streaming TV platform, Tubi. FOX estimated 8.5 million viewers for the digital in-game stream, which likely factored in last year's viewership when the game was streamed on Paramount+. But that was paid. All Tubi requires is some basic info to get started: easy, fast, and overwhelmingly attractive to any NFL fan, young or old.  This is something we understood immediately at Tatari.  

Indeed, 14.5 M viewers streamed Super Bowl 59 via Tubi and NFL digital properties with Tubi alone delivering 13.6 M viewers - a new record far surpassing projections.  Like the Eagles, the Tatari brands who leaned into the Superbow on Tubi, were also winners. This was not a matter of luck or coincidence, but a media strategy put together immediately after it was reported that there would be a select few streaming exclusive spots airing nationally on Tubi.

We identified some of our most successful partners who had previous success on streaming, specifically with massive sporting events like the MLB World Series. TickPick, an online marketplace for tickets to live events, jumped at the opportunity to run its very first Super Bowl ad. During the 2024 World Series, which also aired on FOX, TickPick ran a 15-second spot in games 1 and 3, driving over 4K unique website visitors and app installs when factoring in both the immediate and delayed response to both units.

With streaming ads for the Super Bowl priced anywhere between 75-80% less than the average linear rates, and a higher than projected streaming viewership, the decision to run was a no-brainer. 

“The Super Bowl audience is our bread and butter,” said Matt Ferrel, VP of Growth at TickPick. “Being able to reach millions of sports fans during the ultimate sporting event was incredible. We never questioned whether streaming was going to be worth the investment. Tatari already proved streaming helped increase our brand awareness and drive lower-funnel metrics like app installs and registrations.”

TickPick ran 30-second spots leveraging their existing "hero" creative. As part of the buy-and-match spend agreement, Tatari secured premium placements in the 2025 World Series on FOX, with the remaining budget allocated efficiently across linear and streaming remnant inventory to continue to build on the initial success of their Super Bowl ads.

Hot off the heels of the big game, the results suggest the streaming commitment was a winning decision. According to initial data, within seconds of airing, TickPick saw a significant surge in traffic, driving over 700 website visits and 1,800 app installs in just one minute. 

And compared to their World Series spots - which they considered a big success, their streaming Super Bowl ad outperformed that by a wide margin with big increases in response and app installs continuing well into the evening.

While big money is still on the Kansas City Chiefs to return to the Super Bowl next season despite the heartbreaking loss, we’re betting on big increases in streaming sponsorships like this next year and beyond. Lock it in.