Super Bowl LIII is just around the corner, and whether you’re rooting for the New England Patriots or the Los Angeles Rams, many of us can agree that part of the joy of the Big Game is watching the commercials. Of course, many of these spots are already available online, which means some brands are creating not just plenty of pre-game hype, but also more awareness for their products or services.
To figure out which companies have accomplished this so far, we turned to the 2019 Super Bowl ads listed on USA Today’s Ad Meter and measured how they’ve performed. Out of 25 publicly-available commercials uploaded to YouTube, we discovered six of the top 10 most-watched spots came from the food and beverage industry, with more than half of all Ad Meter’s 2019 Super Bowl ads falling into this category! In addition, a few brands got a little extra boost from releasing trailers of their commercials. Read on for our analysis, or jump to our YouTube rankings below.
Post Updated: 02/02/2019 11:50 A.M. PT – As of this writing, the initial top 10 ads have switched places significantly in terms of most views, as have a few of the ads in spots #11-25. We won’t be updating the initial top five list written February 1 and published below, but the rankings list is now up-to-date! Also, six of the top 10 most-watched ads are still from the food and beverage industry, so that stat is unchanged.
Food & Beverage Brands Dominate 2019 Super Bowl Ads
The most-represented category in this year’s Super Bowl commercials was food and drinks, which accounted for 13 of the 25 ads submitted to Ad Meter. This may not be a huge surprise, considering how many Super Bowl commercials in the past have come from the food and beverage industry; plus, it’s certainly no secret that Big Game parties usually have more than generous spreads, and food is top-of-mind right after the referees’ calls.
The following data is accurate as of February 1, 2019:
#1 Budweiser
The food and beverage brand currently in the lead in terms of views is Budweiser, whose yearly Super Bowl ads tend to be audience favorites as they involve the beer company’s famous Clydesdale horses and dalmatian dog. The brand’s spot was no different, while also including the “do good” announcement of being sustainable by wind power. Budweiser’s ad boasts the most views and engagements of all 2019 Super Bowl ads to date at 14M views and 27.2K engagements since being uploaded on January 23; it also boasts an average 3-day view count (V3) of 1.4M.
#2 Stella Artois
Next up is beer producer Stella Artois with an ad featuring Sarah Jessica Parker and Jeff Bridges reliving their most famous characters but choosing to drink Stella instead of their traditional drinks. With 12.1M views and 14.2K engagements since its upload date of January 28, the spot is similar in nature to Budweiser’s in that it touches on the theme of doing good by mentioning its #PourItForward campaign to bring clean water to those in need. Stella’s ad also currently boasts the highest V3 of available data across these ads at a whopping 12M!
#3 DEVOUR Foods
DEVOUR Foods is currently in third with 11.9M views, 5.4K engagements, and a V3 of 4.8M thanks to its uncensored version of its “frozen food porn” ad, uploaded on January 23. The 30-second version of the spot uploaded on January 31 has also pulled in 4.6K views to date.
#4 Michelob ULTRA
Then, we see Michelob ULTRA’s “The Pure Experience” ASMR-influenced ad claiming #4 with 10.6M views, 3.2K engagements, and a 10.2M V3 since its upload on January 28. Fun fact: Michelob was the only brand to boast two different spots in the 2019 Super Bowl ads list!
#5 BON & VIV Sparkling Seltzer
Last but not least is another liquor-based brand called BON & VIV Sparkling Seltzer, whose mermaid-inspired Big Game spot currently has 9.8M views, 7.6K engagements, and a 491K V3 since its upload on January 24. Maybe it’s doing well because it also involves sharks?
Even More Touchdowns from Early Teasers
Of course, the food and beverage industry isn’t the only one with a huge presence at this year’s Big Game. The rest of the 2019 Super Bowl ads came from the auto, retail, apparel and accessories, tech, telecom, entertainment, and personal care categories. Hyundai, Amazon, Amazon Prime Video, and Olay were the only non-food brands to claim spots in the top ten most-watched spots to date, with Prime Video’s official season 1 trailer for Hanna garnering roughly 8M more views and 600 more engagements than the clip linked by Ad Meter.
However, an interesting trend related to this year’s Big Game ads comes from what brands across all industries were doing before the debut of their official spots. For example, Olay pre-gamed it by releasing an official trailer of its ad on YouTube two days before its official spot; this clip has pulled in 3M views and more than 1K engagements. In a similar vein, Doritos released its Chance the Rapper and Backstreet Boys teaser on January 17 and garnered 2.1M views and 1.5K engagements. And a teaser from M&M’S launched on January 22 and earned nearly 3.9M views and over 300 engagements.
These are only a few examples of brands that released teasers or trailers of their official Super Bowl commercials. This tactic may have helped build anticipation for the official spots; it likely helped both Olay and Doritos, whose official spots now have more views than their accompanying teasers. Just a thought: brands may want to take note of this teaser idea and apply it to their own video advertising campaigns for next year’s Super Bowl.
To finish up, here’s the Ad Meter list of 2019’s Super Bowl ads you can expect to see this weekend, in order of most views. If V3 is available, it’s also included (data is accurate as of 11:45 a.m. PST):
- Amazon: “Not Everything Makes the Cut – Amazon Super Bowl LIII Commercial” (15.8M views, 4.1K engagements, 11M V3)
- Hyundai: “The Elevator | 2019 Super Bowl Commercial | Hyundai” (15.1M views, 1.7K engagements)
- Budweiser: “Budweiser | Wind Never Felt Better | 2019 Super Bowl Commercial” (15M views, 27.6K engagements, 1.4M V3)
- DEVOUR Foods: “DEVOUR Food Porn | Big Game 2019 Uncensored” (13.3M views, 6.1K engagements, 4.8M V3)
- Stella Artois: “Stella Artois | Change Up The Usual | 2019” (12.4M views, 14.3K engagements, 12M V3)
- Michelob ULTRA: “The Pure Experience | Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold Super Bowl 2019” (11.8M views, 19K engagements, 10.2M V3)
- Amazon Prime Video: “Hanna Season 1 – Super Bowl Ad | Prime Video” (11M views, 1.3K engagements, 9.1M V3)
- BON & VIV Spiked Seltzer: “BON & VIV Spiked Seltzer – ‘The Pitch’” (10M views, 7.6K engagements, 491K V3)
- Olay: “Olay Killer Skin | Super Bowl LIII Official Commercial” (9.6M views, 3.2K engagements, 6.8M V3)
- Doritos: “Doritos | Chance the Rapper x Backstreet Boys Super Bowl Official Video #NowItsHot” (5.5M views, 10.1K engagements, 4.1M V3)
- Michelob ULTRA: “Robots | Michelob ULTRA Super Bowl 2019” (3M views, 45 engagements, 179K V3)
- Pepsi: “More Than OK – #SBLIII” (2.4M views, 786 engagements, 114K V3)
- Pringles: “Sad Device” (960K views, 186 engagements, 275K V3)
- Expensify: “2 Chainz x Adam Scott | Expensify :30 Super Bowl Commercial 2019” (673K views, 52 engagements)
- Mercedes-Benz: “Mercedez-Benz 2019 A-Class ‘Say the Word’ Big Game Commercial” (624K views, 566 engagements)
- Colgate: “All-New Colgate Total SF – Close Talker” (135K views, 95 engagements, 832 V3)
- Toyota: “Toni | RAV4 Hybrid | Toyota” (96K views, 183 engagements, 73.9K V3)
- M&M’S: “M&M’S Chocolate Bar Super Bowl Commercial 2019 (featuring Christina Applegate) – ‘Bad Passengers’” (71K views, 278 engagements)
- Mr. Peanut: “Planters | ‘Mr. Peanut Is Always There in Crunch Time’ | 2019 Big Game Commercial :30” (60K views, 15 engagements, 36.8K V3)
- Avocados from Mexico: “Top Dog | Avocados From Mexico 2019 Ad | :30” (48K views, 58 engagements)
- bubly: “Michael Buble vs bubly Super Bowl 2019 Ad” (27.6K views, 50 engagements)
- Skechers: “Tony Romo – Skechers Big Game ‘Easy’ Ad” (20.8K views, 25 engagements, 12.8K V3)
- Mint Mobile: “Chunky Style Milk? That’s Not Right | Mint Mobile 2019 Super Bowl Ad” (19.6K views, 344 engagements)
- WeatherTech: “Scout: WeatherTech Super Bowl Commercial” (15.5K views, 28 engagements)
- Sprint: “Best of Both Worlds | Sprint Big Game” (15.4K views, 65 engagements)