The Kansas City Chiefs pulled out a last-minute miracle to beat the San Franciso 49ers in overtime, but the real winners of Super Bowl LVIII were Volkswagen and BMW. Four automakers spent at least $7 million each for a 30-second advertising spot during the big game, which paid off more for some than others.
Kelley Blue Book and its sister site Autotrader each saw search traffic surge for brands and car models featured in ads during the big game.
Volkswagen was the biggest winner of the night. Search traffic for Volkswagen models grew by 311% at KBB and 117% at Autotrader after the brand’s nostalgic spot, which tracked its evolution from the 1949 arrival of the Beetle to this year’s ID. Buzz.
The ID. Buzz, a retro-styled, all-electric take on the classic VW Bus, saw the most significant traffic gain. Searches for the Buzz on KBB grew 13,500% during the game.
BMW’s electric i5, featured in an ad with Christoper Walken, also saw a notable increase in search traffic – 3,400%.
Kia’s electric EV9 was featured in a tearjerker ad, where a dad used its vehicle-to-grid charging technology to power a lighting setup so a child could perform a figure skating routine for her ill grandfather. It won Kia a 194% boost in overall traffic and a 751% boost in EV9 searches.
Toyota, the other major automaker to advertise at this year’s game, saw smaller gains. But the brand chose to highlight the Toyota Tacoma, which has long been America’s best-selling midsize truck. Toyota didn’t need Super-Bowl-sized publicity to sell more Tacoma pickups.
In-Game Search Traffic Increase By Brand:
| Brand | Boost on Autotrader | Boost on Kelley Blue Book |
| BMW | 18% | 23% |
| Kia | 34% | 194% |
| Toyota | 31% | 8% |
| Volkswagen | 117% | 311% |
In-Game Search Traffic Increase By Model:
| Brand | Boost on Autotrader | Boost on Kelley Blue Book |
| BMW 5-Series | 28% | 100% |
| BMW i5 | 370% | 3,400% |
| Kia EV9 | 486% | 751% |
| Toyota Tacoma | 90% | 33% |
| Volkswagen ID.4 | 130% | 320% |
| Volkswagen ID.Buzz | N/A | 13,500% |
