While ads are tiresome in general, it's ultimately still an art form that invites some very talented people to contribute to it and benefits from a stupid amount of money. Superbowl ads are as hit and miss as any other short film work and are subject to commercial conceit, but could often become a powerful experience to share with tens of millions of people.
As attention gets more diluted, this becomes an increasingly less ripe opportunity and doesn't warrant quite the same ambition as it used to. But there's nothing "strange" about it historically.
It would be interesting to know if the ad companies did underground campaigning to get the hype of watching commercials as much as trying to make interesting commercials. You know, pre-algo generated feeds. Now, you can see the ads days/weeks in advance of the game rather than a big secret reveal during the game where you might still miss it.
