The Super Bowl is part sporting event, part social gathering and part unofficial holiday — all of which contribute to an annual spending frenzy involving hundreds of millions of dollars. This year’s Super Bowl is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 9, and more than 100 million people worldwide are expected to watch it, according to research from NC State University.
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The event itself generates anywhere from $300 million to $1.3 billion, depending on the source. A big chunk of that money is spent by companies that buy ads for the Super Bowl broadcast. During the 2024 Super Bowl, advertisers spent $7 million for a single 30-second spot, NPR reported.
Just as the game on the field has a winner and a loser, so does the contest involving advertisers. One of the annual scorecards is USA Today’s Ad Meter, which assigns a score to the top advertisers based on ratings and other factors.
Here were the Top 10 ads from the 2024 Super Bowl:
- State Farm: “Like a Good Neighbaaa”
- Dunkin’: “The DunKings”
- Kia: “Perfect 10/The Kia EV9”
- Uber Eats: “Worth Remembering”
- NFL: “Born to Play”
- Dove: “Hard Knocks: A Dove Super Bowl Film”
- BMW: “Talkin’ Like Walken”
- Budweiser: “Old School Delivery”
- Verizon: “Can’t B Broken”
- Doritos Dinamita: “Dina & Mita”
Of those 10 brands, four are owned by companies that trade on U.S. stock exchanges: Uber Eats (owned by Uber Technologies), Dove (Unilever), Verizon and Doritos (PepsiCo).
If you had invested $250 in each of those stocks one year ago (for a total investment of $1,000), you would have still have about $1,000 today. Here’s a breakdown of how they have performed, listed from best to worst return.
Unilever PLC (UL)
- Jan. 16, 2024, closing price: $48.19
- Jan. 14, 2025, closing price: $54.74
- One-year return: +13.6%
- Dollar gain on $250 investment: $34
- Balance: $284
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Uber Technologies (UBER)
- Jan. 16, 2024, closing price: $63.65
- Jan. 14, 2025, closing price: $64.85
- One-year return: +1.9%
- Dollar gain/loss on $250 investment: $4.75
- Balance: $254.75
Verizon Communications (VZ)
- Jan. 16, 2024, closing price: $39.29
- Jan. 14, 2025, closing price: $38.28
- One-year return: -2.6%
- Dollar gain/loss on $250 investment: -$6.50
- Balance: $243.50
PepsiCo (PEP)
- Jan. 16, 2024, closing price: $166.17
- Jan. 14, 2025, closing price: $144.95
- One-year return: -12.7%
- Dollar gain/loss on $250 investment: -$31.75
- Balance: $218.25
As the above numbers show, two of the stocks had positive returns over the past year and two had negative returns. Your ending balance on a total investment of $1,000 would have been $1,000.50 — a net gain of 50 cents. That’s not exactly going to buy you a new yacht.
If you had cashed out last month, however, you probably would have made a lot more money. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new high of 45,074 on Dec. 4, 2024. But it has since fallen back and closed at 42,518 on Jan. 14, 2025 — a decline of 5.7% from its December peak.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: If You’d Invested $1,000 in 4 Companies Behind Some of the Top Super Bowl Ads Last Year, Here’s What You’d Have Today
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
