- Carmakers bet big on Super Bowl ads this year, which featured prices as high as $5.6 million for a 30-second slot.
- Cars.com tracked traffic to its site before and after each car ad aired, noting which commercials generated the most buzz among potential buyers.
- Genesis’ ad for its GV80 luxury SUV boosted traffic to its pages by 5,530%, and ads from Porsche, Hyundai, and Audi drummed up lots of traffic as well.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A 30-second ad slot during the Super Bowl went for as much as $5.6 million this year, meaning when a carmaker shells out for a spot during the big game, it’s banking that its commercial will generate a lot of cash in return.
According to data from car-buying site Cars.com, some vehicle ads appear to have delivered big results for manufacturers – as well as for the website, whose traffic spiked after the ads.
The website analyzed traffic to advertised model pages both before and after each ad ran – specifically, it noted traffic on each page during the eight minutes before a spot aired, and then during the eight minutes after.
The results give us some idea of which commercials resonated the most with the Super Bowl’s more than 100 million viewers, and which fell flat. Check out the stats below, ranked from the ads that generated the lowest traffic to ones that generated the highest.
Toyota
In Toyota's Super Bowl spot, Cobie Smulders cruises through various stereotypical movie scenes in a 2020 Highlander, saving people from certain death. Cars.com tracked a 238% increase in traffic to Toyota's pages on the site after the ad aired.
Jeep
In Jeep's "Groundhog Day"-themed commercial, Bill Murray relives the same day over and over again, enjoying himself thoroughly with the help of a Jeep Gladiator. Jeep went nostalgic with the ad, and traffic to Jeep's Cars.com pages increased by 336%.
Kia
Kia's ad for the 2021 Seltos crossover shows Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs driving around his hometown imagining the advice he'd give his younger self. The commercial delivered a 553% jump in traffic to Kia's Cars.com pages.
Audi
In Audi's ad for its E-Tron electric SUV, Maisie Williams - of "Game of Thrones" fame - urges drivers to let go of gas-guzzling cars through her rendition of the famous "Frozen" song "Let It Go." A 639% bump in traffic went to Audi's Cars.com pages in the minutes following the spot.
Hyundai
Hyundai's star-studded spot, "Smaht Pahk," features actors John Krasinski, Rachel Dratch, and Chris Evans gabbing about the Sonata's Smart Park feature in a thick Boston accent. Former Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz makes an appearance, too.
The ad was evidently a hit, with Cars.com noting a 961% increase in traffic to Hyundai pages after the commercial.
Porsche
Porsche's ad, its first Super Bowl commercial in 23 years, shows Porsche Museum employees racing around Stuttgart in pursuit of one of their colleagues, who's driving the new Taycan - Porsche's first fully electric vehicle. The well-received spot, which showcases several iconic current and former Porsches, gave the automaker's pages an increase of 1,072%.
Genesis
In the night's most successful ad, judging by Cars.com's data, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend throw a goodbye party for "old luxury" and show off the new Genesis GV80 SUV.
Evidently, viewers were intrigued by Genesis' first SUV and flocked to Cars.com to check out the brand. The ad boosted traffic to Genesis' Cars.com pages by a whopping 5,530%.