14 Dot-Com Companies Had Super Bowl Commercials In 2000, Here's How Many Still Exist Today

Shelling out millions of dollars for a Super Bowl commercial can be a risky move. Just ask the 14 companies with dot com in their name how things turned out after being featured in Super Bowl ads in 2000.

What Happened: Super Bowl XXXIV, which featured the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans, will be remembered for many reasons, including being known as the "Dot-Com Super Bowl" due to the large number of companies with dot com in their name shelling out millions on Super Bowl ads.

Super Bowl commercials for the NFL championship game in 2000 had a cost of around $2.2 million for a 30-second spot. Compare that to the $7 million to $8 million per 30-second spot that Fox Corporation FOXFOXA is getting for this year's big game.

Here is the list of the dot-com companies that ran ads in Super Bowl XXXIV:

AutoTrader.com: Still Active
Computer.com: Bought out by Office Depot ODP in 2000
E1040.com: Defunct
Epidemic.com: Defunct
E-Stamp.com: Defunct
HotJobs.com: Bought by Yahoo! in 2022 and later by Monster.com in 2010
LastMinuteTravel.com: Active, merged with Tourico Holidays in 2004, acquired by Hotelbeds Group in 2017
LifeMinders.com: Bought by Cross Media Group in 2001
Monster.com: Active, bought by Randstad NV in 2016, now majority owned by Apollo Global APO
OnMoney.com: Defunct
Netpliance: Rebranded as Tipping Point in 2002, bought by 3Com in 2005
OurBeginning.com: Bought by undisclosed company in 2002
Pets.com: Defunct, website now redirects to PetSmart's website
WebMD: Active, bought by Internet Brands in 2017

Along with the 14 dot-com companies that ran ads, there were also several technology companies that were founded before the dot-com boom that aired ads in this Super Bowl. Those companies are:

Britannica: Active
E*Trade: Active, bought by Morgan Stanley MS in 2020
Electronic Data Systems: Bought by HP HPQ in 2008
Kforce: Active
MicroStrategy: Active, changing name to Strategy and trades as MicroStrategy Inc MSTR

As pointed out by cllct co-founder Darren Rovell, only three of the 14 dot-com companies that advertised in Super Bowl XXXIV still exist under the same name today (Autotrader, Monster, WebMD).

Why It's Important: Super Bowl XXXIV was watched by more than 80 million people and many of the dot-com companies that advertised saw big spikes in website traffic.

LastMinuteTravel saw over 300,000 hits per minute during its Super Bowl ads. OurBeginning.com's revenue was up 350% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2000. For most, the gains in traffic and revenue weren't enough to offset the high marketing costs on the Super Bowl ads.

Super Bowl XXXIV may have been one of the peak moments of the dot-com bubble with Barron's calling the top on March 20, 2000 with a cover story "Burning Up."

The 2001 Super Bowl (XXXV) featured only three dot-com companies as many of the prior year's companies had already gone under or were facing financial struggles. E*Trade poked fun at the number of dot-com companies from the prior year during their Super Bowl XXXV ad.

The Dot-Com Super Bowl of 2000 hit the spotlight again in 2022 when a large number of cryptocurrency companies ran Super Bowl ads in Super Bowl LVI, prompting the nickname of the "Crypto Bowl."

Among the companies that advertised during Super Bowl LVI was FTX, a cryptocurrency platform that went bankrupt less than a year after its Super Bowl commercial.

Spending millions of dollars on a Super Bowl commercial is not a proven path to success, especially for smaller unproven and unprofitable companies. Food for thought as you watch this year's Super Bowl ads.

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