Jumpstart Automotive Media, a leading media, insights, and marketing solutions company, today released findings of its annual Super Bowl advertising performance report, which measures the brands that drove the greatest increases in traffic to Jumpstart’s portfolio of publishers during the game.
Jumpstart monitored auto shoppers visiting its portfolio of publishers in a time-trended series to see how traffic fluctuated when ads aired.

The five brands that drove the highest spikes in traffic also saw the highest share of active pages viewed in the two minutes following their Super Bowl LI spot:
Advertiser & Spot Name Length Of Spot Placement In Game Share Of Active Pages
Alfa Romeo Giulia "Dear Predictable" :30 Fourth Quarter 60%
Ford "Go Further" :90 Between Coin Toss & Kick-Off 40%
KIA Niro "Heroes Journey" :60 Third Quarter 28%
Lexus LC 500 "Man & Machine" :30 Second Quarter 25%
Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster “Easy Rider” :30 Third Quarter 10%

In addition to measuring which pages had the highest active viewers, Jumpstart measured the percentage of traffic from desktop, mobile (smartphone), and tablet, the top sources that traffic came from, and the top five cities visitors were located in. While total traffic on Super Bowl Sunday only increased 6% compared to the prior two Sundays, Jumpstart’s mobile traffic increased 14%. The majority (67%) of traffic came from smartphones, and even peaked at 80% multiple times throughout the game. Los Angeles, New York, Houston, San Francisco, and Chicago were the cities with the largest active audience. Jumpstart’s owned and operated publishing partner, Car and Driver, which was very socially engaged with viewers throughout the game, drove the most active pages.
Despite Ford’s spot highlighting several vehicles as well as its transition as a company, visitors gravitated to Ford GT pages. Performance vehicles like the Alfa Romeo Giulia, Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster, and Lexus LC continued to hold consumers’ attention throughout the game. But in the end, Alfa Romeo came out on top. The brand aired three commercials during Super Bowl LI. One minute after the first commercial aired, overall site traffic increased tenfold, and four of the top five searched terms included Alfa Romeo. After the second commercial aired the site reached its highest numbers in traffic and eight out of the top ten searched terms included Alfa Romeo. The most popular model searched for was the Giulia.
“The Super Bowl is one of the most exciting categories for brands to go after, and this year’s auto advertisers made especially impressive moves. Of course, it’s not unusual for automakers to weave current events and themes into their Super Bowl spots, but we saw this year’s advertisers take that concept to a whole new level—especially on the political front. From Ford (mobility) and Kia (eco-consciousness) to Audi (equality) and a never-before-seen post-game production from Hyundai, these brands built new experiences, connected with consumers in new ways, and proved that the love of cars and driving really is stronger than ever,” said Libby Murad-Patel, vice president of marketing and strategic insights.
About Jumpstart:
Jumpstart Automotive Media, a division of Hearst Autos, offers high-impact and performance-driven marketing and advertising solutions that achieve optimum results. An industry thought-leader known for its in-depth shopping reports, Jumpstart connects automotive marketers with the largest, high-performing audience of car shoppers and enthusiasts through partnerships with: Car and Driver, U.S. News Best Cars, J.D. Power Cars, NADAguides, Autoweek.com, Autobytel, Autolist, Daily News Autos, LeftLane, CarSoup, and CarBuzz.
JumpstartAuto.com, @JumpstartAuto