Super Bowl Ads now have a much longer lifespan, since viewers can go directly to a myriad of websites to watch the ads. Because ads can be viewed on YouTube, CBS Sportsline, etc, there is even less motivation for users to visit the advertiser sites, which used to be one of the few places the ad could be watched post-game. So can it be expected that a Super Bowl advertisement will increase traffic to advertiser sites?
On Super Bowl Sunday (2/4/07) the market share of US visits to the custom category of Super Bowl advertiser websites (excluding film promotion websites) increased by 5.2% versus the previous Sunday (1/28/07). The increase the day after the Super Bowl (2/5/07) compared to the previous Monday (1/29/07) was slightly lower, at 4.6%.
While some sites did show massive increases (see table below), such as Snickers, Budweiser and Bud Light, the total market share of visits to those growing sites was so small as to barely impact traffic to this group of sites. After all, how often does one go online to find a beverage or a snack? TV watchers need a compelling reason to go to the website of a food or beverage manufacturer – in this case, the reason was to watch the ads again, or view additional ads. The sites that did show increases were the ones that had the best ads: Budweiser, Snickers, Sierra Mist. Some sites, like MyCokeRewards draw regular users with the potential for prizes and swag, but for the most part, food and beverage manufacturer sites are typically limited to a few ads, games, or sweepstakes registration forms.
Advertisers whose business is entirely web-based would most certainly expect and increase in visits, and this year GoDaddy and Salesgenie.com did show strong increases, of 75% and 156% respectively (see chart here) . Careerbuilder.com and E*Trade showed minor increases of about 3% on the Monday following the game (see chart here), when one would expect potential job-seekers and investors to go online. What kind of traffic increase would be expected from $2.6 million in online advertising? Super Bowl advertising is an interesting trade-off for dot-coms – while the exposure is far greater than an online campaign, it’s far less targeted. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

On another note, I’d like to point out why I think the table above is fascinating. We rarely compile custom categories of unrelated sites, and just seeing how a site like Careerbuilder.com ranks against Toyota is eye-opening. Both sites are #1 in their respective categories, but Careerbuilder.com has a market share of visits 16X greater than Toyota. Snickers, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser are leaders at retail, but their websites have a small impact online. To me, it demonstrates the importance of online brand management through consumer generated media, and the vast opportunity brands these have to become part of the conversation, as Doritos did with its Crash the Super Bowl contest.