February 2026 can’t come soon enough for the NBC ad sales team, as they prepare for a remarkable lineup of tentpole events, including the Super Bowl LX on February 8, the 2026 Winter Olympics from Milan, and the NBA All-Star Game on February 15. This presents a powerful two-week stretch of live sports exclusively on NBC, and they’re eager to capitalize on this opportunity by charging advertisers a premium for commercial slots.
According to a report by Brian Steinberg in Variety, NBC aims to sell a 30-second Super Bowl commercial for around $7 million, a figure that is likely comparable to or slightly above Fox’s ad rates from earlier this year. During the later stages of their ad sales cycle, Fox even managed to sell some spots for over $8 million each due to high demand. However, unlike Fox, NBC plans to leverage its other high-profile February events to create compelling ad packages for marketers. Steinberg notes, “The company has been eager to discuss ad packages that include all three events, according to buyers and executives familiar with discussions.”
In 2022, NBC adopted a similar strategy when the Super Bowl coincided with the Winter Olympics. They even aired Winter Olympics programming following the Super Bowl, a tactic expected to be repeated next year. NBC has been sharing research that suggests advertisers could lose tens of millions of viewers if they opt to buy spots for either the Super Bowl or the Olympics exclusively. Reportedly, those who only purchased Super Bowl ads in 2022 missed out on 42 million potential Olympic viewers, while Olympic advertisers missed 30 million Super Bowl viewers.
Moreover, as is the norm for Super Bowl ad purchases, NBC is looking for advertisers to commit to buying inventory across the network’s other sports properties, which should be achievable given NBC’s robust live sports lineup next year, including their new NBA package. In total, Fox generated over $800 million in Super Bowl ad revenue this year. Whether NBC can match or exceed that figure remains to be seen, but historically, the trend for Super Bowl commercial prices has only gone in one direction: upward.
