Few automakers participated in Super Bowl advertising this year, but the ones who did saw notable increases in internet traffic following the airing of their commercials.
Only four car commercials were shown during the 2024 Super Bowl, the same number as last year but down from six in 2019. This year’s lineup of vehicle advertisements was comprised entirely of import brands: BMW, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Kia.
Vehicle evaluation platform Edmunds recorded changes in website traffic following the football match for comparison to January averages, allowing the firm to determine which brands benefitted the most from their Super Bowl marketing campaigns. While all advertisements succeeded in drawing consumer interest to the relevant make or model, results varied heavily between each of the four companies.
BMW’s “Talkin’ Like Walken” commercial, featuring the i5 and introducing the 5 series, generated the least amount of traffic on Edmunds’ website following its air time at the end of the first quarter. Site share for the i5 increased 806% to account for 1.1% of all traffic, while the 5 series overall saw a 246% increase to 1.2%. While the automaker’s overall representation on the Edmunds’ website remained well behind other brands, its Super Bowl advertisement was still a comparative success. BMW-related site visits rose 18% to represent 7% of Edmunds’ web-page traffic.
Toyota’s “Dareful Handle” advertisement, aired midway through the third quarter and focusing on the 2024 Tacoma, came in third place on Edmunds’ post-event analysis. The new pickup accounted for 10.9% of site traffic following the Super Bowl, up 846% from the vehicle’s average share in January. The Toyota brand as a whole experienced a respectable increase of 34% in terms of site share, accounting for 22.2% of search queries.
Volkswagen aired the second most successful car commercial during this year’s Super Bowl. Titled “An American Love Story,” the advertisement took viewers through the brand’s history in the U.S., starting with the Beetle’s post-World War II introduction and ending with the launch of the new ID.Buzz electric van. The new model accounted for 3.7% of traffic on the Edmunds website, a massive increase of 5,527% from its January average. Volkswagen experienced a similarly impressive increase in overall brand searches, representing 11.1% of page visits, an increase of 189%.
Out of all the automaker commercials that aired during this year’s Super Bowl, Kia’s “Perfect 10” EV9 spot was, by far, the most influential. “This is a victorious moment for [Kia] for many reasons,” commented Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ head of insights, in a statement shared with CBT News. “Kia’s EV9 ad followed the playbook for advertising success: it took a relatively unknown new vehicle and thrust it into the spotlight with a tearjerker Super Bowl spot that propelled consumers to go online and learn more.” The EV9’s site share increased 4,773% on Edmunds to 20.2%, an impressive feat for one of the U.S.’s less popular brands by market share (between 5% and 6%). Kia vehicles accounted for 24.2% of all website traffic, up 229% from the brand’s average rating.
