Ranking tech's Super Bowl ads—which flopped and which are worth a re-watch?

Some people watch the Super Bowl to see which football team is the best in the NFL. Other people watch it to see which company spent the most on their Super Bowl ad or which company has the best marketing team.

Over the years, the types of companies advertising during the most-watched sporting event have shifted. There aren’t many car companies advertising this year, for example. There remain plenty of food and beverage commercials, as evident by spots for Pringles, Nerds, and beer. In recent years, tech companies have begun to use the airtime during the Super Bowl to get their products and messages in front of a large audience.

This year, as the New England Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks, tech companies are trying to appeal to the more human side, making us laugh or, in Google’s case, cry. I’ve been covering the technology industry for over a decade. So, I went through the ads below and ranked the tech-related Super Bowl commercials from best to worst.

Anthropic

Anthropic, with its Claude AI assistant, is having a moment right now. Its coding tools are more popular than ever and considered the best. Probably for that reason, the company took this opportunity to tell the world how OpenAI will ruin ChatGPT by including advertising. OpenAI’s Sam Altman fired back that ChatGPT won’t be doing ads in the way Anthropic depicts.

There’s not one, but four commercial variations. On first watch, they're funny. But on the second and third watch, the ads highlight how dystopian all AI is right now. So, these commercials are good for a laugh and good as a warning sign about all the artificial intelligence companies—mission accomplished, Anthropic. That’s why these are among the best tech commercials at the 2026 Super Bowl. They’re a comedy and horror, all in one.

Google Gemini

If you’re not careful, Google’s Gemini commercial will have you teary-eyed by the end of it. The ad spot shows off the AI assistant’s ability to create images and reimagine existing photos. Google has used this format for its ads in the past, but it continues to be effective. Instead of cracking a joke like Anthropic did, Google went for a sentimental approach, trying to sell people on AI’s potential in their lives. I don’t know if a football commercial can fully achieve that, but this one is solid. I’d argue the ad is good enough to make you forget it’s about AI—briefly. It’s a much better AI ad than Alexa.

Ramp

Ramp is an AI tool for business customers looking for help managing finances. I had no idea about this company or what it did prior to this Super Bowl ad. But using The Office character Kevin Malone to get his job done, with the help of Ramp, was effective and clever. This commercial gets high marks for the chili sequence at the end.

Xfinity

Although Xfinity hasn’t done itself any favors with customer service or pricing, this year’s commercial reimaging of Jurassic Park isn’t bad. Apparently, plugging in the cable company’s modem could have avoided all the chaos that ensued in the movie. The extended version is rewatchable to try and pick up on where the old blends with the new. But ultimately, Jeff Goldblum’s “…Wi-Fi finds a way” is the icing on the cake.

Squarespace

Squarespace’s ad about finding a domain name is odd. Are domain sales that lucrative to deserve spending on a Super Bowl ad? Or maybe the idea is that once you have a domain name, you’ll need to build a website. Regardless, this ad entirely succeeds on the back of Emma Stone and the moody black-and-white style. The content itself is superfluous. But in the end, it’s a decent attempt to make the concept of buying a domain name memorable.

T-Mobile

A good ad has multiple layers. First, there’s the broad appeal of featuring a well-known band or celebrity. Then there’s an attempt at humor, such as changing the lyrics or highlighting over-dramatic fans. All of those things are present in T-Mobile’s ad. It’s fine, if not a little boring and overly predictable. But thankfully, there’s a surprise punchline at the end to elevate it slightly.

Oakley Meta smart glasses

This Oakley Meta ad for smart glasses is quintessential Meta. The company has been the definition of average and comfortable with the masses. The company can’t grow to the size it has without becoming watered down and perceived as playing it safe. The Oakley Meta ad didn’t flop. It might pique someone’s interest. But it’s also not one you ever come back to. It’s just straightforward and plain.

Bosch

Guy Fieri’s transformation to “just a guy” had been teased before any commercial appeared online. The concept for the ad is good, but I don’t think it was utilized fully. I would go as far as to say that Bosch’s push for its power tools and home appliances fell way short of its potential. This one flopped much harder than it needed to.

Amazon Alexa+

The whole ad for the advanced Alexa+ is showing how an AI assistant would have someone killed, theoretically, of course. Even at first glance, the optics aren’t good. But mostly, the payoff isn’t big enough, and so you’re just left wondering if Alexa will actually start sabotaging things around your home. It’s not a good look. Even the ad’s “scary good” name could have used a rethink. Google’s sentimental approach plays much better than this one.

Ring

For me, Ring’s Super Bowl ad was the worst of any tech company. There are two major problems with it. The first is that the founder insists on being in Ring’s high-profile ads. This isn’t charming or personable. It makes the ads more boring than they need to be. The second, much bigger problem is that this ad for finding lost dogs clearly demonstrates how your Ring camera, which you think is private, really isn’t. Features like Search Party are what convince me not to buy a Ring product. Of course, Search Party is available for free—a statement declared at the end. Ring needs everyone to share what their cameras see with the company, all the time, even when there aren’t lost dogs.