Insights for the Funniest Super Bowl LIX Ads
Little Caesar's "Whoa" featuring Eugene Levy was the No. 1 funny ad by likeability, scoring 15% above the norm.
Humor has been a key ingredient in many Super Bowl ads over the years, and this year was no different. According to iSpot, 21 Super Bowl LIX ads had "funny" as the top viewer emotion/reaction — and 17 of those leveraged celebrities for additional audience engagement and delight. Additionally, food, beverage and restaurant brands had a strong showing among the funny ads, owning 11 of them.
- Little Caesar's "Whoa" featuring Eugene Levy and his daughter Sarah was the No. 1 funny ad by likeability, scoring 15% above the norm. Across all Super Bowl spots, it was No. 5 for likeability. 26% of surveyed viewers said the product itself was the "single best thing" about the ad.
- Looking at brand recognition — which historically has been higher for humorous Super Bowl ads per an iSpot analysis — Bud Light owned the top funny ad, with its "Big Men on Cul-de-Sac" scoring 93% brand recognition, 19 points above the norm. This ad was also tied with Doritos for the top spot by brand recognition across ALL Big Game ads.
- Ritz Crackers has the second funny ad by brand recognition (91%, 17 points above the norm). The spot takes a kind of tongue in cheek approach, with Bad Bunny, Aubrey Plaza and Michael Shannon as members of the "Salty Club" where no smiling is allowed. 29% of viewers thought the characters were the "single best thing" about the ad, while 25% considered the product itself tops.
- The top funny ad by likeability that didn't include celebrities was Reese's "Don't Eat Lava," which scored 13% above the norm for likeability, with 86% brand recognition, 12 points above norm. 27% of viewers said the product itself was the "single best thing" about the ad, while 24% preferred the visual scenes (hordes of people trying to, yes, eat lava).