Super Bowl XLIII Commercial Scorecard

Let's face it. The ad hype before Super Bowl XLIII was virtually nonexistent compared to previous years.

For the first time in years, many advertising sites didn't live blog during the game. People turned to social networks like Twitter to type a 140 character commercial reaction like, "How many agencies/marketing directors will get the boot after the Superbowl?" or "Second half ads far better than first half."

NBC had a harder time selling its spots, which ranged from $2.4 million to $3 million for 30-seconds, when compared to FOX over the previous year. In the end, NBC did sell all 69 spots for a record $206 million. With pre- and post-game spots included, total ad revenue scored $261 million for the network with 100 million viewers watching the game until the very end.

Reactions to the commercials were mixed. There was no consistent number one favorite across the various sites that allow viewers to vote on the ads.

Which company won the Super Bowl with its advertising just depends on which site you visit.

USA Today's Ad Meter's Top 5:

1. Doritos - Crystal Ball
2. Budweiser - Clydesdale Circus
3. Budweiser - Clydesdale Horse Fetch
4. Bridgestone - Taters
5. Doritos - Power of the Crunch

Viewers at ADBOWL ranked their top 5 as:

1. Bridgestone - Taters
2. Bridgestone - Hot Item
3. Doritos - Crystal Ball
4. Coca-Cola - Heist
5. Budweiser - Clydesdale Horse Fetch

"This year's biggest surprise was how poorly Anheuser-Busch fared in ADBOWL," said Steve McKee, president of McKee Wallwork Cleveland, whose agency co-sponsors the annual ADBOWL with Rassai Interactive. "Unlike past years, their spots just fell flat."

Over at Thummit, viewers voted for their top 5 as:

1. Bridgestone - Hot Item
2. Doritos - Crystal Ball
3. Coca-Cola - Heist
4. Monster - Need a New Job?
5. Hulu - Secret

The top 5 among viewers through Media Curves is:

1. Bridgestone - Horse Circus
2. Budweiser - Horse Fetch
3. Coca-Cola - Heist
4. Bridgestone - Taters
5. Budweiser - Coming to America

TiVo takes a different approach to ranking the favorites among viewers. Through its second-by-second audience measurement data, TiVo gauged which spots people watched more than once among 30,000 anonymous households.

Viewers who used TiVo were drawn to these top 5:

1. GoDaddy.com - Enhanced
2. Bud Light - Summer to Winter
3. CareerBuilder.com - It May Be Time
4. Doritos - Crystal Ball
5. Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen

"Topping the drama and excitement of last year's big game probably seemed impossible for many advertisers, but this game truly delivered, especially for those who chose time slots towards the end of the game," said Todd Juenger, Vice President and General Manager, TiVo Audience Research and Measurement.

USA Today's Ad Meter also shows the 5 spots that were the least popular:

1. Vizio - Flat-panel TVs (Least Popular)
2. Hyundai - Assurance Program
3. Toyota - Venza
4. Hyundai - Genesis
5. United Way/NFL - Youth Fitness Program

From the ad industry's viewpoint, pros also critiqued Super Bowl XLIII's in-game commercials. Advertising Age's Bob Garfield reviewed every ad, writing that Cash4Gold.com's spot with Ed McMahon and MC Hammer will give the company the most ROI than any of the other Super Bowl commercials.

He also awarded four stars to Coke Zero and Monster.com for their ad efforts. His least favorite turned out to be Teleflora's Super Bowl debut spot produced in-house.

Time.com also graded the ads. While none of the ads earned an A+, only four earned a solid A:

1. Pedigree - Crazy Pets
2. NFL, Usama Young - Dream Come True
3. Cash4Gold.com - Ed McMahon and MC Hammer
4. Hulu.com - Alec Baldwin

Time.com did hand out one F for the night. It went to GoDaddy.com's "Shower" commercial with Danica Patrick.

What would a copywriter have done differently? Copywriter Kimberley Freeman of Zag Studios found the Budweiser ads to be a disappointment.

"The spot where an office worker was thrown out a window for suggesting no more beer at meetings should have been shot down in the first agency presentation and the whole 'Drinkability' approach is a non starter," she writes in her review.

SOBE, CareerBuilder.com, Teleflora and Toyota Venza rounded out Freeman's least favorites.

Speaking of CareerBuilder, the job-hunting site that used to be the topic of water cooler talk on Monday mornings, didn't place in the top 10 anywhere. Monster.com returned to the Super Bowl after leaving the game in 2004. Results showed the two weren't that far apart in popularity but Monster did place in the top 5 among Thummit's viewer survey.

For anyone watching the game just for the commercials, there were two big surprises in the night. The E-Trade baby ads that were so popular last year fizzled this year in ad rankings. They didn't make a single Top 10 list.

The other surprise came in the form of a consumer-generated ad. Doritos "Crystal Ball" scored well across the board, even among ad critics. The commercial won two unemployed brothers from Indiana $1 million from Doritos parent company Frito-Lay.

Even mentioning the words "consumer-generated ads" used to make ad pros laugh at the thought. Samsung asked for consumer-generated ads for Super Bowl XLIII pregame air time. Doritos has been using consumer-generated ads for its Super Bowl advertising for years and has consistently scored well in popularity.

With some of the heavy hitter companies sitting out from advertising in the Super Bowl this year, some advertisers might start looking to the consumer. They get free ad ideas and major publicity. It's the $3 million price tag on Super Bowl air time you have to worry about next.