AI Picks Super Bowl Ad Winners That Didn't Go Viral

New Analysis Reveals a Divergence in How Artificial Intelligence and Human Viewers Respond to Commercials

Feb. 10, 2026 at 11:39pm

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A post-Super Bowl analysis conducted by Emberos revealed that some advertisements performed significantly better with Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, than they did in generating buzz on traditional social media platforms. This finding underscores the emergence of AI as a crucial, and distinct, metric for evaluating advertising impact.

Why it matters

As AI continues to evolve, its role in shaping consumer perception and driving purchasing decisions is only expected to grow. This divergence highlights a basic shift in how advertising effectiveness is measured, as social media metrics may not fully capture a campaign's resonance with the increasingly influential world of AI.

The details

The Emberos study compared the reactions of leading AI chatbots – including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok – to the volume of social media engagement for each Super Bowl commercial. The results showed that social activity accounted for only 30% to 45% of a brand's visibility within these AI systems, with the remaining visibility stemming from how readily brands could be identified, summarized, and reproduced by AI.

  • The Emberos study was released on February 11, 2026.

The players

Emberos

A company that conducted the post-Super Bowl analysis comparing AI and social media reactions to commercials.

Justin Inman

The founder and CEO of Emberos.

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What they’re saying

“Social media reveals what's trending. AI provides insight into what is fundamentally *understood*.”

— Justin Inman, Founder and CEO of Emberos

What’s next

The analysis raises critical questions for advertisers about how to optimize campaigns for AI comprehension and whether it's time to rethink the metrics used to assess advertising success. Brands will need to explore strategies to align their messaging with both human audiences and the increasingly powerful lens of artificial intelligence.

The takeaway

This study highlights the growing importance of AI in advertising evaluation, as the technology provides a distinct and potentially more stable metric for measuring a campaign's impact, beyond traditional social media engagement. Brands will need to adapt their strategies to succeed in this evolving landscape where AI is becoming a dominant force in shaping consumer perceptions and purchasing decisions.