Super Bowl 2021 Commercial Unexpectedly Pulled

Update: On February 4, Ad Age announced that Triller will not be going through with its ad.

In a statement to the outlet, Bobby Sarnevesht, the company’s co-founder and executive chairman, said, “We were planning on running a spot, however by the time we were able to nail the creative there were only 3rd quarter second position spots. For the same amount of money, we realized that we could reach a broader base and at the same time reward our loyal users.”

Instead of a Super Bowl ad, Triller will be doing a promotional event with VersusGame. 

In what was set to be its first Super Bowl ad, Triller, a music and video sharing app, hoped to show users that it’s the go-to app for sharing videos.

What exactly is Triller? The service, owned by Proxima Media, is a video-making and social-networking service that allows users to “edit and synchronize their videos to background tracks using artificial intelligence.”

According to Ad Age, the app “wants to take on TikTok”, and gained popularity over the summer when TikTok was at risk of being banned in the U.S. Ad Age writes, “TikTok has remained strong in the U.S., but Triller, which claims to reach 65 million people a month, has not given up its quest. Now, the company plans to spend millions on a Super Bowl spot. Triller will play the role of scrappy startup with its first sponsorship at the Super Bowl.”

Triller Joins Vroom & Fiverr

This year, Triller was set on joining Vroom and Fiverr in being a first-time Super Bowl advertiser. That is no longer the case.

According to Music Gateway, Ryan Kavanagh, who is the co-owner of Triller, has marketed the platform as the “adult version” of TikTok. And as the outlet noted, the app has received positive reviews since its release. As of November 2020, it was the most downloaded app in the App Store in 50 countries, including the U.S., U.K., Brazil, Germany, France, and Australia.

What specifically can you do with the app? It is “rooted” in Hip-Hop music, and allows you, for example, to film yourself rapping to a variety of songs.

Music Gateway writes, “The app uses artificial intelligence to automatically extract the best of the clips to create a professional-looking music video.” They add that it has gained investments from Snoop Dog, 21 Savage, and Migos.

In July 2020, Triller became the No. 1 iOS video app in India, following TikTok’s ban.

And as of early February, the app had a rating of 4.7 out of 5, from over 149k users.

The Price of a Super Bowl Ad

A number of prominent companies are opting not to release ads this year, according to Sporting News— many, instead, are putting money towards promoting Americans receiving the coronavirus vaccine.

As the outlet notes, the amount of money necessary to produce a Super Bowl ad has increased astronomically over the past handful of years. These days, the price is well over $5 million for just a 30-second spot.

Some of this year’s highly-anticipated commercials include Tide’s “Jason Alexander Hoodie”, and Chipotle’s “Could a Burrito Change the World?”

Bud Light is also back in the game with “Legends”; as is Pringles with a “Space Return” spot.

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