Super Bowl Ad Rankings 2026: The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Super Bowl ads — the punctuation between the game and the halftime show — have become a culture unto themselves. Most brands don’t even wait for kickoff anymore, dropping their “Super Bowl spot” weeks in advance to squeeze every last impression out of the news cycle.

But the conversation is worth having, especially in our industry: a single 30-second Super Bowl commercial now costs upward of $8 million — with premium placements during Super Bowl LX reportedly clearing $10 million. That’s roughly $333,000 per second. With that kind of investment and that much cultural attention, it’s fair to ask: who nailed it and who fumbled?

We pulled together our agency’s picks for the best and worst Super Bowl commercials of 2026 — the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The Good: Google Gemini — “New Home”

This year, Google Gemini’s “New Home” clinched the top spot among our Super Bowl ad viewing team — and we weren’t alone. The Kellogg School of Management’s annual review also ranked it number one, giving it a straight “A.”

In the spot, a woman asks Google Gemini to help envision her new home in Glenville. Set to Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home,” the ad invites imagination and curiosity as she and her son use the technology to do more than decorate — they relive old memories and picture what their new life together will look like.

It pulls at your heartstrings and humanizes a technology that has traditionally felt sterile or intimidating. In a Super Bowl season where nearly a quarter of all ads featured AI products, Google stood out by making artificial intelligence feel warm and personal instead of cold and corporate.

As an added plus, it doesn’t lean on annoying celebrity cameos or go for the ick factor. Checkmate, Google Gemini.

The Bad: T-Mobile — “Tell Me Why (T-Mobile’s Version)”

For many Super Bowl LX ads this year, it was a race to the bottom — and T-Mobile’s “Tell Me Why” led the pack.

The minute-long spot is a cheesy rendition of the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” swapping out the lyrics of the beloved ’90s ballad for a pitch about why everyone should switch to T-Mobile. The ad also features cameos from MGK and Druski, doubling down on the celebrity overload.

It’s clear T-Mobile was banking on the nostalgia factor — a trend that was up 7% over last year’s Super Bowl ads. But there’s a line between tapping into nostalgia and butchering a classic, and this ad tripped over it. The result is obnoxious and overly promotional — or, in other words, T-one deaf.

At roughly $333,000 per second, this one wasn’t worth the price of admission.

The Ugly: Coinbase — “Everybody Coinbase”

Coinbase’s “Everybody Coinbase” was a combination platter of karaoke, walls of supers, and zero nutritional value. Built as a singalong riff on “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” the 60-second spot tries to build toward something — and then just… doesn’t.

You’re left guessing what the point is. There’s no product benefit, no reason to believe, and no payoff. In a busy category of risky investment products competing for mainstream trust, this Coinbase Super Bowl ad offers nothing to make customers look twice.

A long tease with zero payoff. If a reason to believe were currency, this one would come up bankrupt.

What the Best Super Bowl Commercials of 2026 Got Right

Super Bowl LX brought another year of celebrities (102 appearances across 39 ads, if you’re counting), recycled parodies, and out-of-touch humor. It wasn’t all bad, though.

The standout Super Bowl ads of 2026 — and they were few and far between — were the ones that read the room. They understood the current culture and worked with it, rather than relying on shock factor or trying to be “quirky” for clicks. The best ads worked because they were funny without trying too hard. Or better yet, they made you feel something.

Here’s hoping the ad writers of Super Bowl LXI take note.