David Dee Delgado/Getty Images; Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
- 2022's Super Bowl featured four different ads for cryptocurrency firms.
- But this year's Super Bowl will have no crypto ads after FTX's collapse.
- The Super Bowl ad landscape will look much different this year, Insider previously reported.
Fans dubbed last year's Super Bowl the "Crypto Bowl," after eToro, Coinbase, Crypto.com, and the now-collapsed FTX all paid for airtime. But a lot has changed since then, to the extent that there will be zero crypto ads at Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.
Insider reported Monday that some crypto companies had pulled out of ad deals after FTX went bankrupt.
Mark Evans, executive vice president of ad sales for Fox Sports, told the Associated Press that two crypto firms previously had commercials booked in and were ready to go; another two were very close to agreeing deal.
Those deals are now dead, and there is "zero representation in that category on the day at all," he told AP.
AdAge reported earlier in February that crypto exchange OKX had scrapped plans for a Super Bowl ad amid the fallout from FTX's collapse.
The crypto exchange cofounded by Sam Bankman-Fried filed for bankruptcy in November, nine months after the Super Bowl, following mass customer withdrawals.
During 2022's Super Bowl, FTX ran an ad featuring Larry David, the first time the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" comedian had appeared in a commercial, per Variety. When the ad was first revealed, Insider reported Bankman-Fried as saying: "Of course we're doing the Super Bowl thing. Would you really expect us not to?"
At the end of the FTX ad, David's character is told how the crypto exchange is "safe and easy." He responds: "I don't think so. And I'm never wrong about this stuff. Never," ironically predicting the company's implosion.
While Ad Age said FTX's commercial "may end up in the running for this year's funniest Big Game ad," its advert wasn't the most talked about of the night.
Coinbase's minute-long ad titled "Less talk, more Bitcoin" featured a QR code in place of the classic bouncing DVD icon, which gave new users $15 of free Bitcoin plus entry into a $3 million giveaway. Soon after the ad aired, the link to the site crashed.
Bitcoin was trading at an average $42,200 on the date of the last Super Bowl, falling to to around $23,000 on Tuesday per Markets Insider data.
Instead of crypto, you can expect to see more alcohol ads during Sunday's commercial breaks, with five companies booked in, Insider reported.
The advertising landscape at this year's Super Bowl is likely to be much different to 2022, thanks to rising economic uncertainty. Long-term advertisers like BMW, Toyota, and Polestar have all chosen not to have Super Bowl ads in 2023, Insider reporters Lara O'Reilly, Ryan Joe, and Lauren Johnson reported this week.
Fox Sports did not immediately reply to Insider's request for comment.