2026 Super Bowl Ad Performance: A Complete Social Media Analysis

This year's Super Bowl delivered something unexpected: ads that critics dismissed as underwhelming actually proved successful on social media. Despite lukewarm reviews from the press, our analysis of 23 commercials reveals that the 2026 lineup outperformed on average the top ads from the previous 15 years' averages.

The disconnect between critical reception and social performance raises an intriguing question: Are we witnessing a fundamental shift in what makes a Super Bowl ad successful? Let's dive into the data.

How We Measured Success

Using Infegy's social intelligence platform, we evaluated each commercial across five critical metrics that measure true social impact:

Figure 1: Calculation for Super Bowl ad performance.

These metrics were combined into a composite score, allowing us to rank the ads not by subjective opinion, but by their actual impact on the social conversation.

The Complete Rankings: All 23 Ads

Every brand paid the same $8-10 million price tag for 30 seconds of Super Bowl airtime. Here's how their investments performed in the court of public opinion:

The Podium: Top 3 Performers

Top Performing Ad: Ro — "Serena Williams" (Composite Score: 0.083)

Serena Williams' candid weight loss journey for Ro didn't just win the night, it had the most successful staying power. The pharmaceutical company's decision to feature one of the world's most celebrated athletes discussing GLP-1 medications sparked massive conversation, generating a net sentiment of 60% despite significant backlash.

The Controversy Factor

Williams shared her experience with GLP-1s, emphasizing convenience and accessibility. But the ad struck a nerve with viewers who felt conflicted seeing a Grand Slam champion, someone who built her legacy on athleticism, promoting pharmaceutical weight loss.

Social media erupted with nostalgia for "the days of Super Bowl ads with trucks and beer," as one viral post put it. 

Figure 2: Example tweet discussing nostalgia for ads featuring beer and trucks instead of pharmaceuticals.

Why It Worked

Whether you loved it or hated it, people were talking about it. In the attention economy, controversy converts to composite scores. Proving that polarization drives engagement in ways traditional feel-good ads simply cannot match.

Second Top Performing Ad: Pepsi — "The Choice" (Composite Score: 0.026)

In perhaps the boldest brand trolling, Pepsi hijacked Coca-Cola's beloved polar bears and made them defectors. The iconic white bears, synonymous with Coke's holiday advertising since 1993, chose Pepsi in a clever taste test that delighted viewers and earned a 73% positive sentiment.

The Playful Sabotage

The commercial opens with the familiar arctic landscape and adorable bears we've come to associate with Coke. But instead of reaching for the red can, they choose the blue. The tagline "Choose Taste" and "Taste Greatness" hammered home Pepsi's central claim while weaponizing Coke's own emotional IP against them.

Figure 3: Word cloud showing top topics from the conversations relating to Pepsi’s 2026 Super Bowl ad, (February 6, 2026 - February 12, 2026); Infegy Social Dataset.

The word cloud from social listening showed "choose taste," "taste greatness," and "Coke" dominating the conversation, showing mission accomplished for Pepsi's brand team.

Third Most Performing Ad: Lay's — "Last Harvest" (Composite Score: 0.025)

In a sea of ads, Lay's took the emotional route with "Last Harvest," a touching story of generational succession on a family potato farm. The ad featured a weathered farmer passing the legacy of his land to his daughter, connecting the simple joy of potato chips to something deeper: family, tradition, and the American heartland.

The Sentimental Play

While Lay's didn't generate controversy like Ro or audacity like Pepsi, it nailed what it set out to do: make people feel something. Our emotional analysis showed strong spikes in joy, love, and nostalgia — exactly the metrics Lay's targeted. In an evening filled with pharmaceutical debates and brand warfare, this ad offered warmth.

Figure 4: Emotion analysis for conversations relating to Lay’s Super Bowl ad, (February 7, 2026 - Feb 12, 2026); Infegy Social Dataset.

The Strategic Extension

Lay's didn't stop at the 60-second spot. They ran a sweepstakes throughout the game, encouraging continuous engagement and extending the ad's lifespan well beyond the initial broadcast. This multi-touch approach kept "Last Harvest" in the conversation for days, not just minutes.

What the Data Tells Us

The Massive Score Gap

The Ro ad didn't just win, it dominated with a score more than 3x higher than Pepsi's second-place finish. This chasm reveals something important: in 2026, polarization is more valuable than popularity for advertising impact. An ad that makes half your audience uncomfortable, but gets everyone talking delivers better ROI than one that makes everyone smile but nobody shares.

The Long Tail is Brutal

Notice the precipitous drop-off after the top three. By the time we reach #10 (Hellmann's), the composite score has fallen to 0.0039, less than 5% of what Ro achieved. The bottom third of advertisers received virtually no measurable social impact despite spending the same $8 million. Manscaped's "Hair Ballad," while presumably entertaining, registered at just 0.0002, a rounding error in the social conversation.

Celebrity Isn't Enough

Bud Light brought Peyton Manning, Shane Gillis, and Post Malone, three massive names with built-in audiences. They finished #22. TurboTax featured Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and landed at #17. Simply stacking celebrities in a 30-second spot no longer guarantees social cut-through. You need a story worth retelling, not just a cast worth recognizing.

Platform Integration Matters

Lay's sweepstakes strategy extended their ad's life cycle significantly. Poppi's #6 finish was powered in part by influencer Charli XCX's existing social media following amplifying the message. The most successful campaigns in 2026 weren't just TV spots, they were integrated social campaigns with the Super Bowl as the ignition point.

The New Playbook

The 2026 Super Bowl ads signal a fundamental shift in what drives success. The old playbook, celebrity cameos, safe humor, and universal appeal delivered diminishing returns. The new winners understood that in an algorithm-driven attention economy, emotion beats production value, and conversation beats consensus.

Ro proved that controversy, when authentic to your brand, can be more valuable than likability. Pepsi showed that clever brand warfare creates shareability. Lay's demonstrated that genuine emotion, paired with smart activation, still has power.

For brand managers planning 2027: the $8 million is just the entry fee. What you do with those 60 seconds, and how it extends across social platforms, determines whether you're paying for a moment or an actual return.