Largest TV Audience In History Judges Super Bowl Ad Winners And Losers

Preliminary data from Nielsen showed that 114.4 million people tuned in for this year’s Super Bowl game, the largest TV audience in history.

The big game’s viewership far surpassed the audiences who tuned in for the 2014 Academy Awards, the Grammy Awards, and even the Winter Olympics.

For advertisers who paid up to $4.5 million for a 30 second ad during the game, the data was welcome news. However the real question for those who shelled out for a spot during the Super Bowl was whether or not their message was well received.

Big Game Winners

The Patriots weren’t the only winners of this year’s game, several big brands tugged on Americans’ heartstrings to tie positive associations with their companies’ names.

Procter & Gamble’s PG “like a girl” ad campaign was well received among the masses and made the rounds on social media with the hashtag #likeagirl. The message, to change negative self images women develop during puberty, was a nod to the brand’s efforts to promote a positive body image among young women.

Nissan Motor Co NSANY addressed public concerns about safety in the auto-industry with a moving ad that chronicled the father-son relationship between a race car driver and his child.

The ad includes a brutal accident, in which the father’s life is saved by his Nissan car. The commercial also features the company’s latest race car, sparking speculation from F1 fans.

Taking It Too Far

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. may have taken sentimental advertising over the top; the company’s Super Bowl ad was widely criticized for being inappropriately morbid.

The commercial was narrated by a young boy who died in an accident at home and lists all of the things he would never get to do. The insurance company said the ad was created to draw attention to the growing number of children who die in preventable home accidents, but critics say the message was over the top.

Related Link: A Different Kind Of Bowl Lights Up Super Bowl XLIX Sales

Ad-Less Winners

Social media companies were lucky enough to reap the benefits of this year’s Super Bowl popularity without paying for advertising space. Twitter Inc. TWTR was alight with hashtags as half of the ads shown included a hashtag for social media conversations.

Facebook FB was mentioned in four ads and Snapchat got its first ever nod in a Super Bowl commercial for the movie “Pitch Perfect 2."