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Super Bowl Update: Bud, Kraft, Expensify Off to Early Lead in Digital Buzz

Super Bowl Update: Digital Buzz Is Building

On Super Bowl Sunday 2018, same-day leads against a $5 million price tag yielded conversions in the $27-$100 range. But when we mapped TV ad exposures to sales activity in a 7-day window for one customer, that price dropped to $4.40, and $3.41 after 14 days. So the Big Game also returns big value.

But we also know the time leading up to the game helps warm the customers up and can lead to conversions as well. That’s why we’re measuring the digital actions related to TV ads on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and across search portals now and year-round.

By the Numbers:

Through Monday night, 26 brands released 77 Super Bowl teasers that generated 39 million+ online views and counting.

The brands with the most digital activity are Budweiser, Expensify and Kraft. But a new batch of fresh creatives came out on Monday, making it a newly stepped-up race for consumer attention as the industry moves into the home stretch.

Early Leaders:

Earned TV Impressions: Kraft Devour’s Food Porn [5,871,608 TV impressions with $0 in TV ad spending so far, meaning TV networks are playing the ad in news coverage  and people at home are streaming it themselves]

Most Viewed Online: Budweiser – Wind Never Felt Better [9,390,971 total/4,602,819 earned YouTube views]

Social Actions: Expensify This [45,070 social actions + 25,047 positive votes]

Largest TV Ad Spend So Far: Kia – The Great Unknowns [$2.5 million on 33 airings]

Best Voice of the AI Resistance: Michelob Ultra – Robots (feat. Maluma)

Fresh Off the Press:

Stella Artois: Pre-Release: Change Up The Usual (feat. Sarah Jessica Parker & Jeff Bridges as ‘the Dude’)

Doritos: Now It’s Hot (feat. Chance the Rapper & the Backstreet Boys)

Pepsi: Pre-Release: More Than OK is sure to heat up the conversation over the next few days.

Leading the Digital Charge

#1 Budweiser, the usual Super Bowl creative force, is winning the war for digital activity heading into Super Bowl week. Since releasing on 1/24, Budweiser – Pre-Release: Wind Never Felt Better has 4.6 million earned views and 9.39 million total online views, 17.47K social actions and accounts for 18.6% of all social activity for pre-releases through Sunday night. The brand also has 1.57 million TV impressions, all of which are earned from the media coverage of the ad.

#2 Expensify – Teaser: Expensify This. The popular app for streamlining expenses dropped a long version of its Super Bowl creative over the weekend and in a short amount of time and without direct paid support, the ad has generated 1.35 million earned views and 83 million social impressions. Clips from the ad are making their way onto TV, generating over 1.3 million TV impressions with no ad spend yet.

#3 Kraft’s mockery of porn addiction in Devour Foods (Kraft) – Extended: Food Porn accounts for 13.8% of social activity from all the pre-releases. Since dropping on 1/23, the earned views on YouTube account for almost as much as Budweiser’s, with 3.47 million of 8.65 million total views coming without a targeting spend. The ad is also lighting up social with 12.7K social actions through Sunday. On the earned TV front, the ad has generated 5.8 million TV impressions, as news shows take the food-porn bait and provide free air time in coverage.

Some context on why TV works: Social views for all Super Bowl creatives just passed the 28 million mark; by way of comparison, the AFC game generated 185 million TV device impressions for Progressive on just five airings.

For more information and to stay in the know, go to the iSpot Super Bowl Ad Center, which is tracking all this year’s ads, and counting views/social actions/related searches, and can help you access more context for all brands.

In addition to all the latest creatives in one place, you’ll find:

  • All Super Bowl commercials from 2013 to 2018
  • Top Super Bowl commercials from 2001 to 2012
  • Top Super Bowl commercials of all time