Budweiser's Super Bowl 2025 Ad Will Tug At Your Heartstrings

There are three types of Super Bowl fans: those who watch for the sports, those who watch for the commercials and halftime show, and those who are simply in it for the snacks. We typically fall in the latter half of that equation, and while it's a little too early to be cooking up your Super Bowl wing recipes and side dishes – though rest assured our pantries are locked and loaded — some brands are sharing sneak peeks of their commercials early. Budweiser just released its one-minute and 38-second ad, which, according to our loose calculations based on Variety's reporting, cost the iconic American beer brand around 21 million dollars. The ad has only been on YouTube for a couple of hours, but it's already racked up thousands of views and a handful of comments. 

Titled "Super Bowl LIX 'First Delivery'" and set to the sentimental and plucky 1976 song "Let Your Love Flow" by The Bellamy Brothers, the ad features the return of Budweiser's beloved Clydesdale horses. In the commercial, a younger Clydesdale, not yet ready for prime-time Budweiser deliveries, is left behind as his fellow Clydesdales head off to bring beer to the town. As the Clydesdale longingly watches his crew disappear across the horizon, one of the Budweiser kegs falls off the delivery wagon. What ensues is a Mark Twain-esque adventure full of small-town scenery, high stakes, and heartwarming moments.

A few breaks aside (most notably in 2021 when Budweiser skipped a commercial in favor of promoting COVID-19 vaccine awareness), the Budweiser Clydesdales have been making Super Bowl ad appearances since 1975, a mere eight years after the Green Bay Packers faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs in the first-ever Super Bowl. Even though 1975 might've been the first time the Clydesdales made their television appearance, the majestic horses have actually been a Budweiser icon for nearly 100 years. According to Anheuser-Busch lore, the official Budweiser brewers, August A. Busch Jr. and Adolphus Busch III, gifted Clydesdales to their father when Prohibition was repealed in 1933.

This year's ad is similar to last year's Budweiser commercial, "Old School Delivery," which was only a minute long and took the 16th spot in our ranking of 23 Super Bowl 2024 food commercials. In it, the Clydesdales, along with their pup friend, brave harsh weather and tough terrain to bring a beer delivery to a small town tavern. Call it derivative, but we'll never get tired of watching majestic horses overcoming the odds set to folksy rock music. You can watch Budweiser's new "First Delivery" ad on YouTube or catch it live on Sunday, February 9, 2025, after the 6:30 p.m. ET Super Bowl kickoff.