Snack & Beverage Brands Win With Super Bowl Commercials
NATIONAL REPORT — The Philadelphia Eagles may have won Super Bowl LIX on the field, but ads were stealing the show for viewers.
USA Today, part of Gannett Co. Inc., unveiled the winners of the 37th annual "USA TODAY Ad Meter competition." The annual program serves as the leading industry tool for gauging public sentiment and opinions regarding advertisements broadcast nationally during the Super Bowl.
[Read more: Snacks Poised to Score at Super Bowl Watch Parties]
USA TODAY Ad Meter panelists rated ads from Feb. 5-10 (until 1 a.m. EST), resulting in more than 173,000 registrations. Registered panelists were required to rate all eligible Super Bowl commercials that aired during the game, from kickoff to the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter, scoring each from one as the lowest to five as the highest. The commercial with the highest average rating was named the winner.
The top five ads, as rated by the 2025 USA TODAY Ad Meter panelists, are:
- Budweiser: "First Delivery" (score of 3.56)
- Lay's: "The Little Farmer" (3.55)
- Michelob Ultra: "The ULTRA Hustle" (3.52)
- Stella Artois: "David + Dave" (3.51)
- NFL: "Somebody" (3.49)
"Cheers to Budweiser as the 2025 USA TODAY Ad Meter champion. With each passing year, USA TODAY Ad Meter engages a captivated audience of pop culture and sports fans alike," said USA TODAY Senior Vice President Monica Richardson. "Given the popularity of Ad Meter, USA TODAY is launching USA TODAY Movie Meter as a platform for movie enthusiasts to rate their 'Film of the Year' based on the Oscar nominations as USA TODAY continues to innovate as the place for content the nation needs and wants."
The Brand Bowl Winner Is…
Following professional football's biggest game of the year, Gopuff unveiled its annual "Brand Bowl Report," detailing which commercials sparked instant sales on the platform; what customers ordered before, during and after the game; how tastes varied between fans in the competing cities of Philadelphia and Kansas City; and more.
"Big Game ad placements are a massive investment for companies, and turning that buzz into immediate sales is no easy feat," said Michael Peroutka, Gopuff's head of ads. "Thanks to Gopuff's vertically integrated model and access to real-time data, we're able to show exactly how effective these commercials are and unlock unique insights into customer behavior."
By tracking purchases in the hour after the ad aired, Gopuff revealed which commercials inspired customers to hit "add to bag." Here's how the top-performing ads stacked up:
2025's "Brand Bowl" winner is NERDS, which saw a massive 223% increase in units sold in the hour after its commercial for the brand's Gummy Clusters aired. Notably, NERDS tied for second place in last year's "Brand Bowl."
Coming in second place was Häagen-Dazs products, which saw an 186% increase in sales after its commercial aired. Third place was Lay's, with more than 150% increase in units sold in the hour airing.
The runners-up were:
- Poppi sales increased 110% immediately after its commercial.
- After the Bud Light commercial, Gopuff saw sales for the brand increase by nearly 80%.
This big game's big commercial winners all aired their spots during the third quarter and all but one featured influencers or celebrities.
Percent changes are based on units ordered one hour before compared to units ordered in the hour after the commercial aired. All numbers exclude sampled products or giveaways.
Game Day Order Trends
Gopuff saw a 15% increase in customer activity compared to an average Sunday, as people stocked up on Big Game watch party essentials. Here's what they ordered:
- Customers ordered 55% more alcohol on Feb. 9 than the average Sunday in 2025, making it the most popular category of the day. Snacks were the second-most popular category.
- Orders peaked just before the start of the game at 6:15 p.m. EST, then rose again during the third quarter at 9:10 p.m. EST.
- Orders for home essentials were up 23% on Sunday, with toilet paper coming in at No. 1 for the category, followed by paper towels. Meanwhile, orders for party cups and aluminum pans were both up more than 200% compared to the typical Sunday. Orders for paper plates, plastic cutlery and aluminum foil were also higher than usual.
- The grocery category saw a 12% rise in orders as Americans prepared game day dishes and turned to Gopuff to complete their weekly shop during a busier-than-usual Sunday: bananas, eggs, avocados, lemons and bread were the top-ordered items in the category. Most notably, orders for Tostito's salsa con queso and limes rose 150% and 134%, respectively, compared to the typical Sunday.
Gopuff also found that:
- The company's delivery partners covered more than 3.7 million football fields in distance to bring customers what they needed when they needed it.
- One customer ordered more than 70 bottles of Mountain Valley Spring Water on Sunday.
- Sweet was the most popular flavor profile on Sunday, followed by savory, spicy and salty.
- Orders for Apple AirTags rose 138% on Sunday.
- Orders for headphones rose 32%.
- On Monday morning after the Big Game, electrolyte drinks and still water products were the top two most ordered categories as customers nationwide turned to Gopuff to deliver recovery essentials to their doorsteps.
Sales increases compared Feb. 9 nationwide sales to all previous Sundays in 2025.
Fan Favorites: Game Day Edition
The top trending products on Gopuff for Feb. 9 were:
- Tostitos Scoops Original Tortilla Chips: On gameday, Gopuff customers ordered this product 305% more than the average Sunday.
- Seagram's Escapes Jamaican Me Happy single 7.5-ounce can: Orders were 182% higher than the average Sunday.
- White Claw Seltzer Variety No. 1: Orders were 105% higher than the average Sunday.
- Miller Lite: Orders were up 101%, while Miller High Life bottles were also up 97% compared to the average Sunday.
- Ice bags: Orders were 94% higher than the average Sunday.
- Simply Pulp Free orange juice: Orders were 31% higher than the average Sunday.
Meanwhile, the most searched terms on Gopuff were:
- Ice Cream
- Chips
- Water
- Eggs
- Milk
How Each Team's City Fared
In Kansas City, as customers licked their wounds, some order trends emerged, according to Gopuff:
- Customers in Kansas City ordered 51% more than a typical Sunday. Snacks were the most popular category of the day in this city.
- Tequila was Kansas City's drink of choice, with orders for the spirit up 147% on Sunday. Another standout was Sun Cruiser's vodka and iced tea canned beverage, for which orders rose 200% in Kansas City on Sunday.
- The vast majority of Kansas City's orders came in around mid-game, with many folks likely turning down earlier in the night and before the end of the game.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, customers celebrated their win. Orders in Gopuff's hometown were up 22% compared to the average Sunday.
- Partying on: Sales for alcohol were up more than 100% in Philadelphia on Sunday and bags of ice were up 163%.
- Nervous: Despite Philadelphia maintaining a comfortable lead throughout the game, orders for antacids and heartburn relief rose 37% in the city.
In the Big Game's host city of New Orleans, Gopuff observed:
- 45% increase in alcohol orders, with lagers accounting for the biggest increase on Big Game Sunday compared to the average Sunday.
- Meanwhile, as folks looked to hydrate, Basically Alkaline 1L Water with Electrolytes saw a 130% increase on Sunday. Orders for Gatorade Cool Blue 20-ounce bottles were also up 75%.
- Orders for Boston Baked Beans Candy Coated Peanuts were up a whopping 567%.
Sales changes compare Feb. 9 sales in that metro area to the previous five Sundays.
Headquartered in Philadelphia, Gopuff is a mobile order and delivery platform.