According to a study conducted by comScore in the days leading up to the big game, more than one-quarter of Americans anticipated watching the ads as their favorite aspect of Super Bowl Sunday, and 72 percent said they planned to use the Internet on game day. Although few advertisers used their game day ads to explicitly direct viewers online, consumers have been conditioned to use the Web as a complementary resource and they did so on Super Sunday.

Pepsi's pairing with P. Diddy and Jackie Chan during this year's Super Bowl ads drove a nearly 300 percent increase in traffic to its site. Cadillac's Escalade ad and undoubtedly its use as a "trophy" for the Steeler's MVP led to a traffic increase of more than 250 percent on game day.

Spikes in Site Traffic on Game Day Correlate to Ads' Air Time

Several sponsors of Super Bowl 2006 saw traffic to their Web sites spike within minutes of their TV spots airing. comScore analyzed traffic levels to major advertisers' sites in 30-minute intervals throughout game day compared to the average half hour during that day, revealing that:

• The risqu© theme used by GoDaddy.com sent site traffic soaring 991 percent following the first airing of the "strap" ad. When aired again during the second half of the game, traffic to GoDaddy.com increased a staggering 1148 percent.
  
• Budweiser's constant ad presence was reflected through traffic at Budweiser.com. Within approximately 30 minutes of their first ad, traffic to their site increased by 81 percent. As the ads continued to air, site traffic continued to rise eventually reaching a 195 percent increase from the average.
  
• Pepsi's combination of mega-stars and product slogans pushed their brownandbubbly.com site up just over 100 percent with the airing of the first ad featuring P. Diddy. Traffic soared 274 percent a short time later with the airing of Pepsi's second ad featuring Jackie Chan.
  
• Ford's Escape Hybrid and ad spokesman Kermit drove viewers to Fordvehicles.com, increasing traffic by 83 percent following the airing of Ford's ad.

Sports Sites Support the Big Game with Scores, Stats, and Swag

Compared to the average of the four previous Sundays, the biggest gains on Super Bowl Sunday were achieved by NFL Internet Group sites. Traffic to the entity rose 62 percent, which is notable considering that the NFL Playoffs had already boosted traffic levels in previous weeks. Specific sites in the network fared even better, with Seahawks.com seeing the largest gain, at 302 percent. SuperBowl.com increased 138 percent, while Steelers.com rose 115 percent.

Several popular sports information sites drew significant traffic gains on Super Bowl Sunday with their comprehensive real-time coverage of the big game, featuring stories, scores and stats. Yahoo! Sports saw the largest gains in this group of sites, attracting 56 percent more traffic than on previous Sundays. Other notable gains were achieved by FoxSports.com (45 percent), AOL Sports (33 percent), SI.com (32 percent), and ESPN (26 percent).

Offering wide selections of Super Bowl gear and apparel, a few sports merchandise sites also fared well. The NFL's officially licensed retailer, NFLShop.com, saw traffic increase 113 percent over the previous Sundays, while FootballFanatics.com drew 49 percent more traffic.

Viewers Flock to Streaming Video Sites to View Super Bowl Ads

Several streaming video sites capitalized on the traditional interest in the Super Bowl spots by posting the ads online. iFilm.com drew 228,000 visitors on game day, marking a 246 percent increase over the previous four Sundays as consumers visited the site to view their favorite ads. Heavy.com attracted 95 percent more traffic, bringing a solid 381,000 visitors on game day, while and Google Video drew 109,000 visitors (up 30 percent).