Big Game Auto Commercials Inspire Immediate Consumer Engagement on Cars.com

The Big Game was a fierce football competition and a battle for the six automakers who ran a combined 11 commercials during the game on Sunday, February 4. Cars.com analyzed site traffic throughout the evening to determine which auto advertisements inspired the greatest amount of online activity during game time. The results show an average 898 percent lift to the pages of specific models on Cars.com that aired commercials during the game.

“Our site analytics show that not all eyes are on the football game at all times. Millions of consumers are using a second screen like a phone or tablet to visit Cars.com during the Big Game to research and shop in real-time—a sign that big budget advertising spends are paying off for auto brands,” said David Greene, Cars.com data strategy manager. “Consumers come to Cars.com for unbiased information and tools to help them learn more about the cars they’re seeing advertised. With more than 400 million site visits a year, we at Cars.com have a unique vantage point into consumer car shopping habits.”

Who took home the trophy in the end? On the auto front, it wasn’t the green or blue team, but the Red Stinger featured in the Kia spot. Within eight minutes of its airing, visits to the advertised model’s page on Cars.com saw a 4,053 percent increase in comparison to the same time period prior to the airing of the spot. The Lexus LS pages saw an overall spike in traffic, too—generating a 921 percent lift of visits. Other top performing brands and car models included: Jeep Wrangler with a 542 percent increase, Jeep Cherokee with a 175 percent increase, Toyota Tundra with a 142 percent increase, and RAM 1500 with a 69 percent increase.

As people tuned in all across the country, some of the top vehicles that caught consumers’ eyes in major cities based on Cars.com visits included:

• New York: Jeep Wrangler
• Los Angeles: Jeep Wrangler
• Chicago: Jeep Wrangler
• Philadelphia: Jeep Wrangler
• Dallas: Ford F-150
• San Francisco: Jeep Wrangler
• Washington, D.C.: Jeep Wrangler
• Houston: Ford F-150
• Boston: Jeep Wrangler
• Atlanta: Jeep Wrangler

“This year’s game saw the fewest number of car manufacturers advertising since before 2010. Despite this, Cars.com still saw a significant spike in site engagement during the game,” said Greene. “The themes of diversity and humanity were pervasive in all of the ads that aired, with only two ads overall featuring a famous figures. Humor and animals were most notably missing from ads this year.”

Mobile visits continue to grow in popularity throughout Game Day, with 71 percent of visits coming from a mobile device during the game, up from 67 percent before the game started.

Data was collected in real-time by comparing Cars.com site visits on Game Day to averages of the four prior Sundays.

Data Source: Cars.com internal data