In an insurance market where many carriers are struggling to reconcile their budgets with an increase in claims and underwriting costs, spending millions of dollars on a single advertisement is not just impractical, but can appear wasteful to customers. (Credit: Danny Hooks/Adobe Stock)
The Super Bowl is the ultimate stage for companies looking to get as many eyes on their advertisements as possible. However, despite an estimated record 203.4 million adults planning to tune in, not a single insurance carrier will be airing a commercial during Super Bowl LIX.
State Farm was the latest insurer to pull its planned Super Bowl commercial, citing the impact of recent California wildfires. CBS News reports that State Farm has received more than 7,850 claims related to the fires with claim payouts totaling around $50 million.
In a statement to several news outlets, State Farm said its current focus is on helping its customers impacted by the Southern California fires.
The cost of Super Bowl ads in 2025 is around $7 million, with some advertisers paying as much as $8 million — up from the $4 million average cost a decade ago. In an insurance market where many carriers are struggling to reconcile their budgets with an increase in claims and underwriting costs, spending millions of dollars on a single advertisement is not just impractical, but can appear wasteful to customers.
This pullout from the Super Bowl is part of an over-arching trend of decreased advertising spend in the insurance industry.
According to the latest data from S&P Global, in 2023, Progressive, GEICO and Allstate all slashed their marketing budgets. Progressive, the largest spender among the major carriers, lowered their budget by 30% year-over-year to $1.22 billion. GEICO’s ad budget dropped 34% to $838.2 million and Allstate’s fell by 31% to $651.3 million. State Farm was the only carrier among the top-four advertising spenders that had their advertising budget stay relatively flat in 2023; decreasing just 2% to $992 million.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.