Rolex, Burger King Lead for Ad Time at Oscars

Aside from the Super Bowl, the Oscars have long been one of the biggest nights of the year for TV advertising, offering brands a chance to reach a large, highly engaged audience in real time.

Data from iSpot shows overall ad time held relatively steady year-over-year. A total of 49 brands (including networks and streamers) aired 40.25 minutes of ads, just shy of 2025’s 40.75 minutes. Network and streaming promo time dipped slightly as well, falling from 9.25 minutes last year to 8.25 minutes this year.

Excluding network and streaming promos, Rolex led all advertisers during the 2026 broadcast with three minutes of airtime — up two minutes from last year — followed by Burger King with two minutes. While Rolex is a longtime Oscars advertiser, Burger King did not advertise during the 2025 show.

Beyond Burger King, several brands made notable appearances after not advertising last year, including Disney Cruise Line (1.25 minutes), Amazon (1 minute), Coinbase (1 minute) and Rhapsido (1 min). 

On the industry front, pharma saw the biggest year-over-year increase in ad time, rising by 4.5 minutes compared to 2025. Some of that was medication focused, like Zepbound and Rhapsido, while parent companies Eli Lilly and Pfizer had more general — and cinematic — spots. 

Pfizer's stood out given that surveyed viewers found it particularly inspiring and heartfelt (the top two emotions reported) — not common for a pharma ad since many viewers often intensely dislike them. Over a third (35%) of viewers said the ad's message was the "single best thing" about it.