More than 70,000 fans were in attendance to watch the Kansas City Chiefs top the Philadelphia Eagles to become the winners of Super Bowl LVII. Not only did more people watch the game in person this year, but more people also watched at home.

Some 113 million people reportedly tuned in to the game, marking a 1% rise from last year and the highest figure in 6 years. In fact, it was the third-most viewed TV program of all time, trailing only the 2015 Super Bowl (114.4 million) and the 2017 Super Bowl (113.7 million).

Peak viewing figures were recorded during Rihanna’s half-time show, at 118.7 million, making it the second-most watched after Katy Perry’s 2015 performance.

Here’s a look at some of the winners and losers of the commercials, mostly from research examining the digital impact of the commercials (as always, it’ll take some time to see what type of broader impact the commercials will have for advertising brands).

The following list highlights top advertising brands across various metrics – with sources and links provided. As in previous years, it’s worth noting that there’s no clear-cut winner by way of the following metrics – some seemed to do better in some areas than others…

  • Most viewed ad online: Booking.com’s “Melissa McCarthy in ‘Somewhere, Anywhere,’” with more than 128 million views across top video platforms and websites between January 8 and February 15. It’s trailed distantly by T-Mobile’s “New Year. New Neighbor” (59.8 million) and Doritos’ “Jack’s New Angle” (58.5 million). Source: Illumin
  • Most viewed ad, by YouTube game-day views: Booking.com’s “Somewhere, Anywhere,” featuring Melissa McCarthy, again took the top spot, followed by T-Mobile’s “New Year. New Neighbor” featuring John Travolta and Skechers’ “Skechers x Snoop Dogg,” indicating that celebrity-driven ads were popular on YouTube. Source: YouTube, as reported by Variety.
  • Most-loved ad: “New Year. New Neighbor” from T-Mobile. Morning Consult’s Most-Loved Ads Score was derived from a survey conducted the day after the Super Bowl, asking respondents to rank ads on a scale of 0-6 with 0 meaning they couldn’t remember it, 1 being “hated” and 6 being “loved.” The T-Mobile ad featuring John Travolta and others reimagining Grease’s music achieved the highest score of 3.82. In second place was Doritos with “Try Another Angle” (3.73), while T-Mobile appeared again in the #3 spot for “The Re-Write” with Bradley Cooper (3.57). Once again, ads with celebrity cameos were all the rage. Source: Morning Consult.
  • Top ad by likability score: Jeep’s “Electric Boogie”. This spot had a likability score of 768 – based on a scoring range of 1-950 – though it trailed last year’s winner’s score of 791 (Frito Lay/Cheetos’ “Push it”). Jeep is followed by Amazon’s “Saving Sawyer” (760) and The Walt Disney Company’s “You Made This Dream Come True” (754). Source: iSpot.tv.
  • USA Today Ad Meter Winner: “Forever” from The Farmer’s Dog. This spot took the top ranking with an average Ad Meter rating of 6.56 out of 10. The NFL’s “Run With It” (6.38) took the #2 spot, while Amazon’s “Saving Sawyer” (6.35) followed at #3. Source: USA Today.
  • Top ad combining creative appeal and brand lift: “Indiana Jones: Dial of Destiny” (94 out of max 100 score). The top performer is based on a combination of Creative Appeal and Brand Lift. Creative Appeal is determined via surveys of 15,000 consumers immediately after the game, analyzing consumers’ responses to see “which ads drove the most favorable reactions in a controlled environment.” Brand Lift is assessed by comparing brand awareness between exposed and matched control consumers, again via surveys of 15,000 consumers. Indiana Jones: Dial of Destiny was the top ad for creative appeal, while Fanduel won for brand lift. This analysis also notes that inclusive ads tended to perform better than others, ads with celebrities also outperformed (with the more celebrities the merrier), and that both music and nostalgia fueled success. Source: DISQO [download page].
  • Top brand by W-O-M lift: E-Trade. E-Trade was one of the big winners of the Super Bowl, according to Engagement Labs, which measured lift in both offline and online conversations compared to the pre-game period. E-Trade enjoyed a more than +350% lift in both types of word-of-mouth, while Heineken generated a roughly 300% lift in both. Other brands fared better in generating online buzz than offline conversations: Pepsi Zero Sugar scored an impressive +3,000% lift in online social buzz, and while that far outpaced its offline W-O-M lift, the latter was still high at 300%. By contrast, Crown Royal generated a more than 3,000% lift in online buzz, but had a neutral change in offline conversations. Source: Engagement Labs.
  • Top ad by online engagement lift: Warner Bros. Pictures’ “The Flash.” This ranking looks at incremental engagement online for a brand or product immediately following the ad’s airing. Each airing is then indexed to the median in-game Super Bowl spot. The Warner Bros. Pictures’ spot scored an impressive 2,373 engagement index, meaning that it was about 24 times more effective at driving engagement than the median ad. Next up were He Gets Us’ “Love Your Enemies” (1,418 engagement index) and Disney’s “Dream Come True” (1,248 engagement index). Source: EDO.
  • Top advertiser for brand equity: Paramount+. Per Harris Poll, the brand bowl index “uses Harris Brand Platform data to measure the growth in each advertiser’s brand equity from pre-Super Bowl (January 30, 2023 – February 12, 2023), to post-Super Bowl (February 13, 2022 – February 14, 2023). The change in equity captures “whether a brand’s Super Bowl ad effectively increased consumers’ perceived value of the company.” Paramount+ enjoyed a 5.6-point growth between the pre-Super Bowl (45.5) and post-Super Bowl (51.0) period. PopCorners had the second-highest growth (+3.8 points to 21.3), followed by DoorDash (+3.7 points to 50.1). Source: Harris Poll [download page].
  • Top ad for long-term brand building potential: Disney’s “Disney100 Special Look.” According to System1, its “Test Your Ad platform predicts the short- and long-term commercial impact of ads by measuring viewers’ second-by-second emotional responses to creative.” Ads are assigned a rating from 1 to 5.9 based on their “ability to drive market share growth.” The top ad was secured by Disney (5.3 stars), and was followed by M&M’s “Back For Good” (4.8 stars) and T-Mobile’s “New Year. New Neighbor.” (3.7 stars). System1 notes that only 1% of ads typically score above 5 stars. Source: System1.
  • Top “misfit” ad: Tubi’s “Rabbit Hole” ad was the unconventional ad with the biggest response, according to Ipsos data culled from various sources, including surveys and social listening. The fake smart TV interface interrupting the game during the fourth quarter had the highest amount of negative mentions in social listening data. Meanwhile, other brand winners include PopCorners for Ipsos’ “The Happy CFO Award” and GM & Netflix for “Best Brand Partnership.” Source: Ipsos.

Previously Published Research

The Super Bowl LVII contenders have been decided, with the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chief preparing to meet in the annual sporting spectacle. It looks like they’ll have a big audience, too: substantially more fans plan to tune in to the game this year than last. A survey of more than 7,600 US adults conducted by the National Retail Federation (NRF) indicates that 192.9 million adults plan to watch the big game, marking a considerable increase from last year’s projected viewership of 184.5 million.

With more adults planning to watch the game, retail spending surrounding the event is expected to jump from $14.6 billion last year to $16.5 billion in total this year. The average spending per person is estimated to be $85.36, which represents a hike from last year’s $78.92. Following a well-established trend, the most popular spending area, for 79% of viewers, will be food and beverage, with team apparel and accessories being a distant second, at 12%.

Among survey respondents the game itself is the most important to only 42% of viewers, while the commercials are most important to 19% and the halftime show to a near-equal 18%.

A separate survey of 1,050 adults from Marketing Brew and Harris Poll also suggests an increase in viewership this year. Some 79% of respondents reported being at least somewhat likely to watch the Super Bowl, while close to 70% said they watched last year. This could be a result of greater popularity among women: three-quarters said they’re likely to watch the big game, up from 62% last year and 50% in 2021.

(Tamping down the enthusiasm: a survey of 2,205 US adults from Morning Consult finds that only 66% of adults ages 18-34 are “very” or “somewhat” likely to watch the game this year, down from 75% last year. Overall likelihood is relatively flat, though there’s been an increase in viewership plans among those ages 45-64.)

Meanwhile, as with the NRF survey, the research from Marketing Brew and Harris Poll indicates that the order of excitement around the event starts with the game, and is followed by the ads, and then the halftime show. This year more than 8 in 10 (82%) are looking forward to the game, while 76% are at least somewhat excited about the ads, and 71% about the halftime show.

This study found some conflicting perceptions around advertising: although 84% of adults surveyed agreed that advertising during the game is a “smart investment for brands,” almost two-thirds (65%) also agreed that “there are more effective ways than advertising during the Super Bowl for advertisers to reach consumers.” Meanwhile 41% indicated that they’d have a higher opinion of a brand that sponsored a Super Bowl-related event like the halftime show, while for a slim majority (53%) this would have no impact on their opinion of the brand.

A separate survey [download page] of 1,500 consumers in the US from Cint suggests more impact from commercials: 56% agreed that it is likely a big game commercial could change their perception of a brand; and 62% said that a commercial will influence their purchasing decisions following the game. In other results from the research, 81% feel it “very likely” (41%) or “likely” (40%) that they will remember a big game ad that they saw on TV. While most said they’ll enjoy a big game ad if it’s funny, and are most apt to say that humor is what makes an ad memorable, a majority (57%) also want big game ads to feature themes from real-world issues including the COVID-19 pandemic, racial justice, and equality.

Another survey, this time from Kantar, examined perceptions around the event in 3 countries: the US; UK; and Canada. The results of the 3,000-person survey indicates that 86% in the US at least occasionally watch the Super Bowl, as do 69% in Canada and 49% in the UK. While a majority consider the Super Bowl as a sporting event rather than an entertainment event, the shares viewing it as a sporting event are not extraordinarily high, at 68% in the UK, 65% in the US, and 63% in Canada.

Ads are one of the top 3 reasons to tune in among US respondents, but don’t rank in the top 3 among those in Canada or the UK, who primarily watch to enjoy the game itself, because their families and friends do, and due to the halftime show. Nonetheless, commercials are a big part of the Super Bowl experience according to 91% of respondents in the US, 84% in Canada, and 76% in the UK. Additionally, between 82% and 94% of viewers actively watch the ads during at least some of the game.

In the US, 61% pay attention to Super Bowl ads because they’re funnier or more entertaining than regular ads. Among those who watch the ads in the US, funny commercials resonate the most, followed by entertaining ones. The same is true among viewers in Canada, while those in the UK prefer entertaining ads to funny ones.

Super Bowl Ad Stats

Super Bowl ad prices are expected to climb yet again for Super Bowl LVII, with the average reported price for a 30-second spot nearing $7 million, per the latest research on advertising in the big game published by Kantar. This is up from last year’s $6.5 million per 30-second ad.

Looking back to last year’s Super Bowl, in-game ad revenue generated a total of $578.4 million, an impressive $143.8 million hike from the year earlier. Some $32 million in ad revenue was generated during just the half-time show.

Here are some other stats from Kantar’s latest annual analysis:

  • Amazon was the top in-game advertiser last year, spending $32 million, followed by Toyota and Budweiser, each at $25.6 million.
  • Ad spend for the Automotive category (which has been faltering) rebounded in a big way last year, jumping to $99.3 million from $66 million a year earlier, and maintaining its top-spending status among categories. Automotive was followed by the “Web based TV, Radio, Print & Motion Pictures” category, which ramped up spending to the tune of $70.5 million (up from $27.5 million in 2022), overtaking the Financial ($57.6 million) and Beer & Wine ($44.8 million) categories in the process. The media category’s rise was driven by growth in ad spend of streaming services Amazon, Disney, Netflix, HBO and AMC. Among the top 5 spending categories, Beer & Wine was the only to pull back on ad spend last year (down from $52.2 million in 2021 to $44.8 million).
  • Retail, the largest ad spending industry in the US, did not dedicate any advertising dollars to the big game last year.
  • About 9 in 10 (89% of) ads in last year’s game featured one or more underrepresented groups, and 4 in 10 had three or more groups represented.
  • Last year’s Super Bowl ads generated an average ROI of $4.60 per dollar spent, with the best results enjoyed by ads for T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Disney+, Sam’s Club and General Motors.
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