The 2014 Super Bowl Commercials Just Kicked Off

It's just under two weeks until the Super Bowl 48, when football fans will see whether the Denver Broncos or Seattle Seahawks will take home the championship, and we'll see which Super Bowl commercials score big with viewers.

Based on new data released by Unruly Media, digital marketers now know that 60 percent of the most shared Super Bowl ads of all time were launched before Super Bowl Sunday. In fact, both football fans and digital marketers can now get a sneak peek of some of this year's Big Game ads on the YouTube Ad Blitz pregame gallery.

That's a lot of information to digest. So, let's divide this story into two parts.

Super Bowl Ad Stats

Unruly's new data also shows digital marketers that Super Bowl 2013 video ads attracted almost twice as many shares online as the previous year. The marketing technology company also found the number of video shares has grown 30 times in the last three years.

In fact, the top 10 most shared ads from Super Bowl 2013 generated a total of 10.2 million shares across Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere – an 89 percent increase from 2012 (5.4 million), and a substantial uplift from the 355,325 shares the top 10 commercials managed in 2010.

Unruly also created an infographic, "Super Bowl: 10 Facts Every Brand Should Know", which revealed these stats:

The most shares (3.3 million) from Super Bowl 2013 were recorded on Super Bowl Monday (February 4) – twice as many as the next biggest day, February 5 (1.6 million shares) and nine times bigger than the number of shares recorded on Super Bowl Sunday.The average length of the top 10 Super Bowl ads more than doubled (112 percent) from 2010-2013, from 42 seconds to 89 seconds.The average share rate (the percentage of viewers who also shared the ads) of Super Bowl ads nearly doubled between 2012 and 2013. In 2012, it took 57 views to generate one share, in 2013, it took 31 views.3 of the top 10 most shared Super Bowl ads of all time are movie trailers - ("Fast 5", "Fast and Furious 6", and "Star Trek Into Darkness").7 of the top 20 most shared ads from Super Bowl 2013 were supported by teasers.The most shared ad of all time is a Super Bowl ad – "The Force - Volkswagen Commercial" (5.2 million shares).

Unruly has also created a Super Bowl 2014 Playbook, offering insight and tips on how brands can make their content more contagious – even with less than two weeks to go. For example, one of the plays recommends: "Have a Game Plan for Agile In-Game Marketing."

According to Unruly, "The Super Bowl catapulted the real time marketing initiative forward in 2013. While Oreo used text, images and a sense of humor, this year, we may see socially imaginative marketers using Vine and Instagram Video engage with audiences. Have content prepared ahead of time or 'par-baked' ready to be launched during key moments in the Big Game. Feature your product; for example, film a score in jelly beans or write out your hashtag in dancing Wheat Thins. Heineken has done this well in British soccer matches. With 'planned agility' brands can make a splash, join the conversation and BE the conversation with video in Super Bowl XLVIII. We have the advance notice – now's the time to film real chili peppers re-creating the Red Hot Chili Peppers' halftime act and featuring your products!"

Super Bowl Pre-Game Commercials

Both football fans and digital marketers can check out the Ad Blitz channel to see "DORITOS - Crash The Super Bowl 2014 - Finalists Announced."

Or, they can watch Intuit's "The Top 4 are Revealed!"

Or, they can check out Pepsi's "#Halftime America with Lee Brice."

In addition to these pre-game teasers, football fans and digital marketers will also be able to vote postgame for their favorite commercials from their laptops, smartphones, or tablets. And since Google Chromecast was a popular stocking stuffer at Christmas, fans will also be voting from their smart TVs.

As Leena El-omar, YouTube Sports and Auto Programs, said in a post on YouTube's Official Blog, "It's clear how much you love watching and sharing these commercials on YouTube. In 2013, you watched Big Game ads more than 265M times for over 3.2M hours--that's the equivalent of watching 800,000 Big Game broadcasts!"

Nevertheless, Search Engine Watch wants to warn digital marketers that these Super Bowl commercials will be interrupted from time to time by a Big Game on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014. It appears that there are a lot of football fans who are interested in watching that, too.

Super Saver Rates Expire THIS FRIDAY!
Attend ClickZ Live New York (Mar 31-Apr 3) to learn how to improve customer engagement and attain maximum ROI. Over 3 days of sessions, keynotes, training workshops and networking you'll gain invaluable digital marketing and advertising take-aways.
Register now and save up to $800 ››
*Super Saver Rates expire Jan 24.