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World Cup Ads Outperform Super Bowl Commercials Before A Ball Has Even Been Kicked

The World Cup has not even started, but already its ads have outperformed this year’s Super Bowl.

That’s according to new data released today by marketing technology company Unruly, which found the top 20 most shared World Cup commercials have already attracted almost a third more shares than the top 20 Super Bowl 2014 ads – months after Super Bowl Sunday.

Here are the key insights:

  • The top 20 World Cup 2014 ads have so far attracted 6.9 million shares across social media – 31.4% more than the top 20 ads from Super Bowl 2014 (4.7million);
  • If you remove the most shared World Cup 2014 ad – Activia’s “La La La” – it’s a lot more of a level playing field, with Super Bowl 2014 just ahead of the World Cup’s total of 4.6 million shares. However, with still a couple of days to go till the World Cup kicks off, that is unlikely to last very long;
  • The top 3 World Cup ads – Activia’s “La La La”, Nike’s “Winner Stays” and Castrol’s “Footkhana” – account for 59.6% of the total number of shares in the World Cup top 20.

It’s yet more evidence that this year’s Super Bowl brands really failed to engage audiences online.

Despite shares of branded videos rising 22% in the 12 months prior to Super Bowl Sunday, shares dropped by almost a quarter (24.2%) at the 2014 Super Bowl – the first-time ever that online shares in Super Bowl ads have decreased.

Methodology: Sharing figures were compiled on June 9, 2014. The top 20 World Cup chart includes ads created by brands not affiliated with the World Cup. The Super Bowl chart includes ads that were aired during the 2014 Super Bowl.

Keep a track of how World Cup ads perform once the event kicks-off by joining the Unruly Bulletin. We’ll be regularly updating our Braziliant Brands Tracker as the competition gets underway so you won’t miss a trick.