AI brands are pumping ad dollars into linear TV

The world’s biggest AI brands are spending serious advertising dollars as they look to shape public opinion on AI and boost adoption.

A number of the top brands in the AI race have already poured tens of millions into linear TV ads through April 20 of this year, according to iSpot data compiled for Marketing Brew. Some of those brands have nearly exceeded linear TV ad spend for all of 2025.

The spending surge comes as the companies continue to face increased business pressure: OpenAI recently missed user and revenue growth targets, the Wall Street Journal reported, and the sector is under pressure to reach profitability amid ballooning costs. Meanwhile, even as adoption of AI tools grows, consumer sentiment about the tools remains divided.

“Really starting this year, our OpenAIs and Anthropics, and even Google and Microsoft, are coming out in this race [with a] full-on ad blitz to build trust. That’s really important, because at the end of the day, we know they’re facing an uphill battle,” Nicole Greene, VP and analyst, business and technology insights at Gartner, said. “As consumers learn more about AI, they have more mixed feelings about it. They don’t think AI will benefit them or society. Trust in AI companies and building that trust is going to be really important for them because they need users to collect their data, to control the customer and agent experience, and to monetize that.”

Do the math: Several AI brands are on pace to exceed their national linear TV ad spend in 2026 from 2025, according to iSpot data. This year through April 20, OpenAI has spent about $64.9 million on linear TV ads, nearly reaching the $65.5 million it spent on that channel in the entirety of 2025. Microsoft and Google aren’t far behind; Microsoft doled out $34.4 million on linear TV ads from January 1 to April 20 this year compared to $61.1 million throughout 2025.

Google has spent even more; iSpot found that the company has devoted $81.7 million to linear TV ads promoting its AI products from January 1 to April 20 this year. (Last year, it spent a total of $190.5 million.) Meta has already spent $64.2 million through April 20 in 2026, after spending a total of $65.7 million last year. And Anthropic has already exceeded what it spent on TV ads in 2025, dropping about $21.1 million in 2026 through April 20 compared to $16.5 million last year.

Some of these companies bought Super Bowl spots this year, which cost around $8 million for a 30-second ad slot. A sentimental ad from Google showed a mom and son using Gemini to envision their new home, while ads from OpenAI and Meta sought to convey to consumers that AI could be tools for builders and athletes.

“They’re all positioning their brands in new ways, because they’re realizing the momentum is coming, and they want you to have conversations about them,” Greene said of the spots.

Amid the spending surge, consumers are mixed on AI more broadly. Consumer reactions to the AI Super Bowl ads were “sharply negative,” Marketing Brew previously reported, but some surveys have found that consumer beliefs about the benefits of AI tools are trending upwards. With that said, only 10% of US adults stated they were “more excited than concerned” about the increase in use of AI in everyday life, per a June 2025 Pew Research Center survey.