Watch ads, Eagles vs Chiefs

Disney celebrates its 100th anniversary this year so the company has launched a Super Bowl commercial to commemorate the occasion.

The Disney 100 special look features scenes from iconic films, TV shows, stage productions and theme park moments.

“Disney100 represents a celebration of all of our fans and families, and our storytellers and creative visionaries whose talents and imaginations have created the magical moments that make Disney such an enduring part of the global culture,” CEO Bob Iger said in a statement.

— Sarah Whitten

DraftKings is betting the Super Bowl will not only be its biggest new customer acquisition event of the year, but its biggest Super Bowl to date.

“This one should be the biggest ever for us. Every year seems to be growing and at some point that will end, but we are in a nice growth trajectory now for the industry so we expect big numbers for the Super Bowl,” said CEO Jason Robins on CNBC’s Tech Check last week.

Robins noted efficiency will be priority for these sportsbetting companies on Sunday. This will be the second Super Bowl for DraftKings on its own tech platform versus a third party, but Robins said the transition last year went smoothly. “I think a lot of the industry is dealing with huge volume increases and that’s tough to keep up with.”

–Lillian Rizzo

TikTok is ramping up its presence in the NFL, particularly at this year’s Super Bowl.

TikTok is partnering with the NFL for the third year in a row for the pregame “TikTok Tailgate,” a virtual livestream experience that will feature musical performances by Jason Derulo and The Black Keys. In the week leading into the Super Bowl, TikTok has been sharing behind-the-scenes content from athletes, stars, local small businesses and other special guests. State Farm has even opted for TikTok rather than an ad during the game this year.

While the social media platform has become the target of widespread concerns that the Chinese government could access information on Americans using the app, it is increasingly popular with younger Americans. TikTok touts 90 billion combined views for terms like #NFL, #NFLPlayoffs and #SuperBowl.

–Lillian Rizzo

Gambling companies are betting on a big payday this Sunday.

For the first time ever, the Super Bowl is taking place in a state where gambling is legalized. FanDuel CEO Amy Howe said they are “on track for this to be the single biggest day” in the sports betting company’s history on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” last week. Howe said the company expects to take 17 million bets on the platform, double from last year.

The Super Bowl is a big moment for sports betting companies like FanDuel as it’s considered the “single biggest acquisition moment of the year,” Howe said. FanDuel expects to bring in about half a million new customers on Super Bowl Sunday, and about 2.9 million active customers to bet on the game.

To amp up the promotion, FanDuel recruited the NFL’s Rob Gronkowski for its “Kick of Destiny,” a live commercial in which he will attempt to hit a 25-yard field goal during the third quarter. Those who bet $5 or more could win a piece of a $10 million pot.

– Lillian Rizzo

Sports betting is expected to rake in a record amount this Super Bowl, especially with the big event taking place in Arizona, where gambling is legal.

An estimated $16 billion is expected to be wagered this Sunday, more than doubling last year’s estimates, according to a survey from the American Gaming Association. A record 50.4 million adults are expected to place bets on the Super Bowl, a 61% rise from the record set last year, according to the survey.

The survey found that 30 million adults plan to place a traditional sports bet online at a sportsbook or with a bookie, up 66% from the prior year, while 28 million plan to bet casually with friends or as part of a pool.

Legalized sports betting spreading across the states is clearly driving this activity. More than a third of NFL fans said that thanks to legalized gambling it has made watching games more exciting, according to the AGA.

–Lillian Rizzo

Vita Coco and Doordash are teaming up to offer free hangover essentials — including Vita Coco’s own coconut water — to DashPass members Monday.

In years past, Vita Coco has done similar promotions with Lyft and Postmates on New Year’s Day, but this is the first time it’s targeting hungover football fans on the day after the Super Bowl. It’s part of Vita Coco’s broader push into new occasions, from being a cocktail mixer to helping with the next day’s hangover.

The coconut water brand also recently partnered with Diageo’s Captain Morgan for a line of canned cocktails. Co-founder and executive chairman Mike Kirban told CNBC that the company is planning to expand to bars and restaurants through another partnership with a not-yet-named spirits company.

–Amelia Lucas

President Joe Biden will not be sitting for a pre-Super Bowl interview with Fox Soul, after all.

It has become a Super Bowl tradition to have a pregame conversation between the sitting president and the network airing the game, though some presidents have refused in the past. In this case, continued miscommunication between the White House and Fox led to the interview’s cancellation.

According to NBC News, Fox proposed to have one of its news anchors conduct the interview, but the president’s team balked. Instead, the White House said it agreed 72 hours before kickoff to do an interview with the network’s streaming channel Fox Soul. Fox Soul is a Fox Corp. streaming platform, designed to target Black viewers.

However, on Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre indicated that Fox had canceled the interview. Hours later, Fox responded saying there had been “confusion” between the two parties.

George Bush was the first to sit for the presidential Super Bowl interview in 2004. It became a Big Game custom during the administration of Barack Obama, who sat for the interview throughout his presidency. In 2018, Donald Trump broke the tradition by opting out of the conversation, which would have taken place with NBC.

Biden previously sat for Super Bowl interviews with news anchors for CBS and NBC when the networks hosted the game in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

— Sarah Whitten

Amid economic and industry uncertainty, automakers are pumping the brakes on spending millions of dollars to produce and air Super Bowl ads.

This year is expected to be one of the least auto-represented Super Bowls in recent memory. It follows the auto industry as a whole representing the largest segment for Super Bowl ads, at $99.3 million, according to Kantar Media’s Vivvix.

The only carmakers expected to advertise during the game are Kia, General Motors and Stellantis’ Ram and Jeep brands. German sports car manufacturer Porsche said it will air an ad shortly before the game in collaboration with Paramount to promote this summer’s “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.”

Automakers that aren’t returning to the game largely attributed the decision to business priorities or available products and capital. Carmakers are investing billions in electric vehicles and continue to battle through supply chain problems as well as inflationary pressure and rising interest rates that are expected to impact vehicle sales.

—Michael Wayland

It takes deep pockets to advertise in the Super Bowl. This year, some 30-second spots are setting companies back more than $7 million — and that’s just for the air time. Layer on top of that pricey celebrity endorsements and other production expenses and the true cost soars even higher.

CNBC decided to take a look at last year’s big advertisers to see how their stocks performed in the wake of this big investment. The news wasn’t so good.

Shares of online auto sellers Carvana and Vroom were among the worst performers. Carvana’s stock is down about 90%, while Vroom shares have fallen about 83%, as of Wednesday. Neither will advertise during the game this year.

The big crypto advertisers also didn’t perform that well. Most notably, FTX is bankrupt, and its founder has been criminally charged with fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations. Coinbase’s bouncing QR code ad was hailed as a huge success. So many people flocked to its app during last year’s game, it crashed. But the crypto exchange’s stock has taken a beating. It’s off about 64% since last Super Bowl.

You can see the full chart here.

— Christina Cheddar Berk

Some people just watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. Advertisers banking on that are paying up to Fox for that.

The Super Bowl proved to be safe from the challenging ad market weighing on media companies. This year Fox said it hit a Super Bowl record after raking in just about $600 million in gross advertising revenue this year. The broadcaster said it sold out on commercial spots this year, which saw peak prices at more than $7 million for 30-second spots. That’s up from about $6.5 million per spot for last year’s Super Bowl.

–Lillian Rizzo

Everyone knows the cost of advertising during the Super Bowl keeps reaching higher and higher, as this chart shows. The reason is simple: Football continues to bring in the eyeballs.

About 100 million people are expected to watch the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. But the rest of the season matters a lot too.

“Thursday Night Football’s” shift to Amazon Prime Video is masking the fact that the sport’s audience is still growing, according to SVB MoffettNathanson, and that it remains a key part of the network television business model.

Analyst Michael Nathanson said that football’s average viewership fell 4% during the 2022-23 season, but the decline was due to a sharp drop in those watching the Thursday night game. Excluding Thursday night, ratings were actually up 1% from last season, driven by gains in the number of people watching Sunday games on CBS and Fox.

— Christina Cheddar Berk

The NFL rakes in some of the highest TV ratings – which is why it nailed more than $100 billion in rights deals for the next 11 seasons – despite more and more people cutting the cord.

The 2022 regular season averaged 16.7 million viewers, while the overall playoff games averaged 35.3 million viewers, up 5% versus the five year average. Together, the conference championship games on Jan. 29, which saw Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals and the Eagles top the San Francisco 49ers to secure their Super Bowl spots, raked in 50.7 million average viewers, the most watched since 2014.

Last year’s Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Rams and the Bengals averaged 112.3 million total viewers across NBC, Telemundo and Peacock.

–Lillian Rizzo

Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant is ready to field questions from fans who might not want to look down at their phone as they watch the game on Sunday. In preparation, Amazon used advanced machine learning systems that can accurately hear and understand questions being asked in noisy environments so they can instantly retrieve and analyze facts that are spewed out in quick answers, said Vishal Sharma, vice president at Amazon Alexa.

Fans were practicing this week. Amazon said these were some of the most popular football-related questions posed to Alexa in the week leading up to the Super Bowl:

• “Alexa, did Tom Brady retire?”
• “Alexa, how tall is Patrick Mahomes?”
• “Alexa, how old is Brock Purdy?”
• “Alexa, how many championships have the Eagles won?”
• “Alexa, what position does Jason Kelce play?”
• “Alexa, who is still in the football playoffs?”
• “Alexa, follow the Kansas City Chiefs”
• “Alexa, follow the Philadelphia Eagles”

–Lillian Rizzo

Eagles fans prefer Miller and Yuengling, while Chiefs fans favor Bud Light and Busch, according to consumer insights company Numerator.

According to a sentiment survey, Eagles and Chiefs fans are divided on their beer, snack brand and grocery retailer preferences. The survey found 61% of consumers plan to watch Super Bowl LVII: 43% are rooting for the Chiefs, while 39% will cheer for the Eagles.

Chiefs and Eagles fans are likely to munch on brands including Frito-Lay, Lays and Doritos. Chiefs fans lean more toward Little Debbie and Cheetos, while Eagles fans opt for Utz and Oreo.

On the grocery side, Walmart tops both lists. Eagles fans then go for Ahold Delhaize, Albertsons and Wakefern, while Chiefs fans favor Kroger, Sam’s Club, and Costco.

The survey found Eagles fans are 31% more likely to be millennials and 36% more likely to be Black. Chiefs fans, though, tend to be more likely to watch NFL games at 78% versus 72%.

–Noah Sheidlower

A record 50.4 million American adults are expected to place bets on this year’s Super Bowl, a 61% increase from 2022, according to an American Gaming Association survey. Those wagers are expected to total $16 billion, the survey found. Likely helping fuel the craze is the fact that Arizona, where the game is being played, allows sports-betting.

With that in mind, CNBC Pro compiled a list of analysts’ favorite stocks in the sports-betting space. We screened for a variety of metrics, including a buy rating of at least 60% by the analysts covering the stock and an average price target of over 10%. The stocks also had a market cap of at least $1 billion and were members of Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF, VanEck Gaming ETF, and/or iBET Sports Betting & Gaming ETF.

One of the names that made the cut is Caesars Entertainment, whose Caesars Sportsbook takes online bets.

For more names on the list and analyst insights, check out our CNBC Pro story.

— Michelle Fox