'A 30-second ad during the first Super Bowl cost about $40,000.'
According to Advertising Age, advertisers paid $40,000 ($257,000 today) for ads run during the first Super Bowl in 1967, before it was even known as the Super Bowl and before anyone even cared much about the game. This is, of course, a bargain compared with today's prices, which tend to run in the low millions of dollars for a 30-second spot, although today's audience is believed to be made up of as many as 1 billion people.