The Most Watched Super Bowl Ads by Canadians on YouTube

While Tom Brady earned his 7th Super Bowl title last Sunday, it marked another year without American ads televised on Canadian networks. In what has been a legislative back and forth involving the CRTC, Canadian broadcasters and the NFL, the ultimate decision was the reinstatement of simultaneous substitution (simsub) that would see ads for the Canadian market replacing the American Super Bowl ad lineup. While Canucks could still see some of the high-budget, often celebrity-endorsed spots during the live game (for brands who purchased Canadian airtime), many that were part of the traditional American broadcast were not included in the Canadian one.

But that didn’t keep them from being seen north of the border. Online video streaming has ushered in a cultural shift in how Canadians connect with brands on one of the biggest pro sports days of the year, and audiences flocked to YouTube to see ads that were included (and not included) in the Canadian broadcast, especially ones grabbing media headlines and generating social media buzz.

These were the top 10 streamed Super Bowl ads according to YouTube on the day of the broadcast:

1. Marvel Entertainment - Official Trailer for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier - A new mini-series from the Marvel Cinematic Universe scheduled to debut in March on Disney+.

 

 

2. Cadillac - ScissorHandsFree - Timothée Chalamet stars as Edgar, the son of Edward Scissorhands in this spot promoting the auto brand’s all-electric model, with features like hands-free driving.

 

 

3. Jeep – The Middle - One of the more political messages seen during the broadcast. Jeep’s message was to unify as a country. This commercial has been pulled due to news of a DWI.

4. M&Ms – Come Together (feat. Dan Levy) - Having a bad day? Week? Month? Or a year? Have some M&Ms.

 

 

5. T-Mobile - #TheGoatin5G - Starring Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski as themselves.

 

 

6. GM – No Way Norway - Will Ferrell’s rallying cry to the country with the most electric cars in the world.

 

 

7. Cheetos – It Wasn’t Me - Staring Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Shaggy. “Did you steal my Cheetos again?” Wasn’t Mila.

 

 

8. Amazon – Alexa’s Body - Have you ever fantasized about Michael B. Jordan as the voice of Alexa?

 

 

9. Doritos – Flat Matthew - Matthew McConaughey stars as two-dimensional paper person, until he discovers the new 3D chip.

 

 

10. Tide – The Jason Alexander Hoodie - This hoodie has gone through a lot…