The Super Bowl Isn’t Just a Game Anymore
Every February, the Super Bowl turns the country into one giant living room. Phones down. Volume up. Group chats buzzing. Attention, for a few hours, becomes scarce and incredibly valuable.
For decades, that attention belonged to the biggest brands in the world. The price of admission was a national TV spot that cost more than most SMBs make in a year. The logic was simple: if you couldn’t afford the ad, you couldn’t play the game.
Connected TV quietly broke that rule.
Over the last several Super Bowls, SMBs have started showing up on the same screens as legacy advertisers without ever buying a Super Bowl commercial. Not by hacking the system. By understanding how people actually consume the event now and by placing smart, well-timed CTV ads around it.
This is not about trying to outdo Budweiser or Apple. It’s about borrowing the gravity of the moment and converting it into something measurable.
How The Super Bowl Became Bigger Than Its Broadcast
The Super Bowl used to be a single broadcast event. Now it’s an ecosystem.
Viewers don’t just watch the game. They stream pregame shows, halftime analysis, post-game breakdowns, highlights, documentaries, and celebrity-driven commentary across ad-supported streaming platforms. Many households bounce between linear TV and streaming throughout the day.
According to Roku, a significant portion of Super Bowl households now stream at least part of their Super Bowl experience through connected devices, not just traditional cable or broadcast TV (https://www.roku.com/blog/super-bowl-streaming-viewership).
For marketers, this matters because attention no longer spikes once and disappears. It stretches.
CTV lives inside that stretch.
Why CTV Changed The Stakes For SMBs
CTV doesn’t give you the Super Bowl spotlight. It gives you proximity.
That proximity comes with three advantages SMBs have never had during Super Bowl season:
- Access to premium, lean-back attention without national broadcast pricing
- Targeting that reflects who you actually sell to, not everyone watching
- Measurement that shows whether the moment did anything beyond awareness
Instead of buying one expensive impression, SMBs can buy presence across the entire Super Bowl weekend arc.
That difference is everything.
What SMBs Can Learn From Big Brands Without Copying Them
Enterprise brands still dominate the headlines. That’s fine. The real value for SMBs is studying how those brands extend the moment, not how they announce themselves.
Take brands like Squarespace. While they’re known for splashy Super Bowl commercials, their real performance lift often comes from how they reinforce that message across connected TV in the days before and after the game. Streaming placements echo the same story, reinforce credibility, and catch viewers when curiosity is highest.
NBCUniversal research shows that brands extending Super Bowl messaging across streaming environments see higher recall than linear-only approaches (https://www.nbcuniversal.com/press-release/nbcuniversal-research-super-bowl-ad-effectiveness).
SMBs don’t need the opening act. They need the encore.
The same lesson applies to moments like Coinbase’s famous QR code Super Bowl ad. The stunt got attention, but the conversion power came from what followed. CTV and digital video retargeting helped turn curiosity into action. Google reports that households exposed to both CTV and digital video are significantly more likely to take action than those exposed to one format alone (https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/video/connected-tv-advertising-impact/).
The SMB takeaway isn’t to recreate the spectacle. It’s to plan for the second touch.
Where SMBs Actually Win: Super Bowl Adjacent CTV
Here’s the strategy most SMBs overlook and the one that consistently delivers outsized returns.
Instead of chasing game-time inventory, smart brands focus on Super Bowl-adjacent entertainment.
This includes:
- Pregame shows and analysis
- Halftime commentary and cultural recap programming
- Post-game breakdowns, highlight reels, and sports talk shows
- Streaming content tied to halftime performers, celebrities, or football culture
These environments share three critical traits:
- Viewers are emotionally invested
- Screens are big and sound is on
- CPMs are meaningfully lower than the live broadcast
Innovid reports that CTV ads served during live and adjacent sports programming regularly achieve completion rates north of 95 percent, outperforming most digital video benchmarks (https://www.innovid.com/blog/connected-tv-sports-advertising).
For SMBs, this is the sweet spot. You’re not interrupting the biggest moment. You’re showing up while people are still paying attention.
A Composite SMB Scenario That Plays Out Every Year
Imagine a regional home services brand operating in three major metros.
They don’t buy a Super Bowl ad. Instead, they run CTV spots:
- During pregame coverage in their specific DMAs
- During post-game analysis that runs late into the evening
- During sports recap programming the following morning
The creative doesn’t scream. It reassures. It positions the brand as established, local, and reliable. Same living room. Same screen. Lower cost. Better relevance.
Search demand spikes that weekend. Social engagement lifts. Retargeting pools grow. The ROI doesn’t show up in one night. It shows up over the next thirty days.
This pattern is why SMB adoption of CTV continues to rise, particularly around major live events, according to IAB research on connected TV growth (https://www.iab.com/insights/ctv-advertising-growth/).
The Real Risk Isn’t Cost. It’s Confusion.
The brands that lose money on Super Bowl CTV don’t lose because the medium doesn’t work. They lose because they treat CTV like social video or a novelty channel.
Common mistakes include:
- Overly clever creative with no clear value proposition
- Landing pages that aren’t prepared for a surge in curiosity
- No paid search coverage when branded demand spikes
- Measuring success by impressions instead of lift
CTV magnifies clarity. If your message is fuzzy, the big screen will expose it.
How To Approach The Super Bowl Window Without Burning Budget
For SMBs considering CTV around the Super Bowl, the playbook is straightforward.
First, decide what the ad is supposed to do. Super Bowl environments are best for validation and trust, not hard selling.
Second, buy the weekend, not the moment. Pregame and post-game inventory consistently outperform expectations.
Third, support CTV with search and social so demand has somewhere to land.
Fourth, control frequency. Three to five exposures across the weekend beat one expensive splash.
Finally, measure what happens after. Brand lift, search lift, site engagement, and assisted conversions matter more than CPMs.
This is the same philosophy we apply across paid media strategies outlined in Hawke Media’s broader performance framework at https://hawkemedia.com/services/paid-media/.
The Bottom Line
The Super Bowl will always be high risk. That’s why it works.
CTV gives SMBs a way to step into the cultural current without betting the company. It rewards brands that understand timing, relevance, and restraint. You don’t need to dominate the game. You need to belong in the room.
And once you do that successfully, the Super Bowl stops feeling like a gamble.
It starts feeling like leverage.