The most viral Super Bowl ads dominated social media using the element of surprise

In an age where communal experiences are becoming almost extinct, the Super Bowl stands as a rare exception to the rule. For one glorious Sunday, most Americans are glued to their television and phone screens at the same time. This is an opportunity that advertisers pay big money to seize upon every year. But how do we know if it’s worth it?

One metric by which to measure the success of a commercial campaign is social media engagement. According to Sprout Social, data from this year’s game shows how surprise commercials—such as those from Verizon, Temu, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—dominated the conversation.Verizon, the official 5G network of the big game, was tight-lipped about its ad going into the event. Many other brands chose to leak their spots ahead of time, but the telecom giant just ran teasers. During the actual ad, Beyoncé announced a new album and dropped two new singles. Verizon’s strategy paid off as the brand was mentioned 52,936 times on Sunday for 453,578 engagements such as likes, shares, and comments. Queen Bey herself got 1.4 million engagements—so it was a symbiotic relationship.

The second-most mentioned commercial was perhaps less expected: Temu garnered 40,448 mentions and 420,714 engagements. The online marketplace, owned by Chinese e-commerce parent company PDD Holdings, offers heavily discounted merchandise that comes directly from Chinese factories and warehouses. Temu, a Super Bowl advertiser for two years running, was launched in the United States in August 2022 and is now giving Shein and Amazon a run for their money.

In third place, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s dark horse presidential campaign ad, produced by American Values 2024, was an almost exact replica of a 1960 spot from the presidential campaign of the late president, John F. Kennedy, Robert’s uncle, which used the same jingle and vibe. RFK Jr.’s version got 23,914 mentions and 180,818 engagements. One of these came from his cousin Bobby Shriver, who denounced the ad. RFK Jr. apologized late that night, saying he had nothing to do with it—but all publicity is good publicity, right?

Here are the top 10 ads in terms of engagement, according to Sprout Social:

• Verizon (52,936 mentions)
• Temu (40,448 mentions)
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (23,914 mentions)
• Paramount+ (mentions 6,932)
• Dunkin’ (5,732 mentions)
• Doritos (5,419 mentions)
• CeraVe (5,407 mentions)
• Mountain Dew (5,246 mentions)
• Dove (4,985 mentions)
• Bud Light (2,443 mentions)

Commercials aside, the clear winner on social media was Taylor Swift. She and her fans—known as Swifties—were mentioned 548,337 times and got over 5,493,492 engagements. Advertisers can play, but Tay is always the endgame.

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