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Top advertisers sitting out Super Bowl LI

Troy Taormin / USA TODAY Sports

Some familiar names will be missing during the commercial breaks of this year's Super Bowl.

Top Super Bowl advertisers such as Frito Lay, BMW, Butterfinger, Toyota, and Taco Bell will not have ads running during Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5. The rising costs of 30-second commercials, a drop in returns, a rise in competition, and the NFL's viewership problems in 2016 among the chief concerns, cites Tanya Dua of Digiday.

Super Bowl ads have grown to a cost of $5.5 million. While the biggest game of the NFL season is prime advertising territory, and ad campaigns can cost up to $10 million when fees and PR are taken into account, according to Mike Sheldon, CEO of Deutsch North America.

"The decision has become a heck of a lot difficult, and there's a bit of a fatigue," he said. "If you're the CEO, you have to justify it a hell (of a) lot more."

Frito Lay has annually produced a Super Bowl commercial for its Doritos brand and had even sought the advice of fans for their 30-second spots since 2007.

According to Dua, only 90 percent of the commercial slots had been filled as of early December. That mark is often met by September or October.

Among the confirmed advertisers for this year's game are Busch, Snickers, Intel, Skittles, Hyundai, Bud Light, and Budweiser.

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