Cost of Super Bowl Ad

The Super Bowl is the most watch TV show ever.   From Almost All Tech Firms Passing On Super Bowl Ads This Year

Last year's Super Bowl had a U.S. TV audience of 108.4 million, making it the No. 3 most-viewed program in TV history. It trailed two earlier Super Bowls, 111.3 million viewers in 2011 and 111 million in 2010.

This means it gets a very good rate from advertisers who want to reach a large audience.  
The average price of a 30-second Super Bowl ad is $4 Million, up from $3.7M to $3.8M last year.

• January 2013 Super Bowl ad cost $3.7M to $3.8M 
• January 2014 Super Bowl average ad costs $4.0M

With the high cost of ads, companies put a lot of effort into making good ads.  As a result, some people say they watch the Super Bowl just for the ads.