Super Bowl 47's Impact on Auto Site Traffic

Like many of America's top companies, automakers spend millions to present the most memorable ads to consumers on advertising's biggest stage: the Super Bowl. But how much of an impact do these ads create?

To find out in our own corner of the Web, we took a look at traffic on CarsDirect.com for the makes and models featured in Super Bowl car commercials, both the week before and the day following the Big Game. Though this represents but a slice of overall impact, it can be seen as a good indicator of which cars consumers are researching and shopping for.

Here's what we found:

• The RAM 2500 (see RAM's "Farmer" ad) saw a 477% jump in consumer research traffic, getting the largest boost of all models featured during the game. The RAM's brand make page saw a 32% increase.

• The new Toyota RAV4 ("Genie") saw a 123% lift in buyer research traffic.

• Audi's "Prom" ad for the 2013 Audi S6 sport sedan also struck a chord with consumers, help driving S6 model traffic up 151%.

• Jeep's "Whole Again" ad spot, a heartfelt letter to U.S. servicemen and women, brought a 41% uptick in traffic for Jeep's model page. Among individual Jeep cars featured, traffic for the Wrangler was up 66%, and 41% for the Grand Cherokee.

• Mercedes-Benz, whose "Soul" commercial for the upcoming 2014 CLA-Class starred Willem Dafoe, saw a whopping 105% lift in traffic for the brand's page. We don't have a dedicated page for the CLA yet, as the car won't hit showrooms until September.

• Hyundai was among the biggest Super Bowl ad spenders, with no less than four new commercials at a total production and airtime cost of surely more than $20 million. That investment doesn't seem to have translated to a big increase in buyer awareness, though: Hyundai's model page was up just 32%.

Be sure to check out our new faster-loading CarsDirect model information pages, with complete specs, reviews and road tests, trim level information, pricing and incentives, high resolution pics and more!