Bud Light Lime and GoDaddy.com aired ads that were seen by 103.2 million Super Bowl viewers last Sunday, according to The Nielsen Company. An average of 98.7 million U.S. viewers tuned in to see the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals, making it the most-watched Super Bowl ever and the second most-viewed television broadcast of all-time.
Key findings from Nielsen’s annual report:
• In terms of total audience, 151.6 million people watched at least 6 minutes of Super Bowl
XLIII making it the TV event with the largest reach (unduplicated audience) ever.
• NBC aired a total of 64 paid advertisements during the game for a total of over 38 minutes.
• The most-liked ad was Budweiser’s spot featuring a Clydesdale competing with a Dalmatian
in a game of fetch. The same ad also registered as the most-recalled ad
• Emotional and feel-good ads by Budweiser and Pedigree resounded with women; Men tended to like commercials with more slapstick humor produced by brands like Doritos and Pepsi.
This year’s game aired 38 minutes and 5 seconds of paid in-game commercial time. 48 unique brands aired commercials that competed for viewers’ attention for a total of 64 ads (excluding NBC promos and PSA’s). The highest-rated and most-watched commercial minute was 9:54pm ET, with a 45.3 HH rating, and 103.2 million viewers. That minute included the Bud Light Lime ad, as well as the GoDaddy.com website commercial.
The top spending categories for the game included Motion Pictures, Beer, Soft Drinks, and Automotive. In the number one spot, Motion Pictures aired 6 minutes and 50 seconds of commercial time, adding over 2 minutes to its total from 2008. Nine movies were advertised this year, one more than in 2008. Monsters vs. Aliens, by DreamWorks, was the only motion picture to run two commercials.
Beer and Soft Drinks tied for second place, both with 4½ minutes of ads each. The Beer category added 30 seconds to its commercial time compared to 2008. For the ninth year in a row, Anheuser-Busch was the top advertiser. The beer category included advertising for Budweiser, Bud Light, and the 30-second spot for Bud Light Lime. Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola each placed three ads for their
Soft Drinks totaling 4½ minutes for the category.
The Automotive category, which was the top category in 2008, significantly dropped air time from 5½ minutes in 2008 to 3 minutes this year, with only five ads airing in this category. All advertised brands were foreign: Hyundai placed two 30-second commercials; Toyota Venza and Toyota Tundra each ran one 30-second ad; and Audi A6 ran a one minute-long spot.
Nielsen also discovered the following Super Bowl viewing trends:
• Locally, Pittsburgh had the #1 Metered Market performance with a 53.6 HH rating. Phoenix was #9 with a 47.5 HH rating.
• Among upscale households earning $100,000+, viewership increased 15% over Super Bowl XLII with a total of nearly 32.2 million viewers.
• Within DVR households, Super Bowl XLIII averaged 36.4 million viewers, a 28% increase from last year’s game.
• In HD capable/receivable households, Super Bowl XLIII averaged a 44.9 rating among Persons 2+ – a 32% increase over the total US audience.
• Hispanic viewership grew 5% over last year’s game. The game also drew a 2% increase among African American viewers.
• Viewership among women climbed 2% this year, continuing a trend that’s lasted each of the last six Super Bowls.
