Ad Study Finds Super Bowl Commercials Do Drive Consumer Demand
Advertising during this year's Super Bowl fueled a 6.4% increase in demand among viewers, accordiing to a just-released study by behavioral research company Veylinx.
Where Super Bowl spots increase consumer demand has been a controvery among advertising executives.
The overall increase in consumer demand was driven by women, who accounted for a 21% increase in demand growth. The commercials had minimal impact on men, yielding just 1% demand growth for the brands tested. Gen Z viewers were largely unimpressed by the Super Bowl ads, with demand among 18 to 25 year olds actually shrinking by 1%.
"It's not really a surprise to see that Super Bowl ads improve sales, but the short term bump alone may not be enough to justify the $7 million price tag," said Veylinx founder and CEO Anouar El Haji.
Using Veylinx's proprietary methodology—which measures actual demand rather than intent—the study tested purchase behavior during the week before the Super Bowl and again the week after. The research focused on measuring the change in consumer demand for eight brands with Super Bowl ads: Michelob Ultra, Heineken 0.0%, Hellmann's Mayo, Downy Unstopables, Crown Royal Whisky, Frito-Lay PopCorners, Pringles and Pepsi Zero Sugar.
Super Bowl Advertising Winners Overall
Michelob Ultra – 19% increase in demand
Pepsi Zero Sugar – 18% increase in demand
Frito-Lay PopCorners – 12% increase in demand
Heineken 0.0% – 11% increase in demand
Super Bowl Advertising Winners Among Women
Pepsi Zero Sugar – 45% increase in demand
Michelob Ultra – 40% increase in demand
Heineken 0.0% – 40% increase in demand
Crown Royal Whisky – 26% increase in demand
Halo Effect for Non-Advertisers
The biggest winners were arguably brands in the same product categories as Super Bowl advertisers. Non-advertisers in those categories appeared to benefit nearly as much as the advertisers: Demand grew by 4.2% percent for the study's control group of non-advertising competitors. Corona Extra, Kraft Mayo and Lay's STAX were the greatest beneficiaries in a control group that also included Budweiser Zero, Arm & Hammer Clean Scentsations, Canadian Club Whisky, Popchips, and Coke Zero Sugar. Notably, every non-advertiser saw at least a slight increase in post-Super Bowl demand.
"The goal of our study was to look specifically at how consumer demand is affected by running a commercial during the Super Bowl," El Haji said. "It's possible that the non-advertisers deployed other marketing efforts to offset or take advantage of the Super Bowl advertising—or they simply benefited from increased exposure for their categories."
Additional Findings
Study participants also answered a series of follow-up questions about their preferences, perceptions and how they watched the Super Bowl. More than three-quarters watched at home through various platforms, the most popular being the live cable/satellite broadcast (38%), followed by YouTube TV (15%) and Hulu (10%). When asked why they watched, it's no surprise that participants were all about the game (64%)—but the commercials were the next most popular reason for watching (39%), followed by halftime (35%), the social aspect (26%) and fear of missing out (13%).