Cadillac’s Green Hell commercial previewing the all-new ATS compact sport luxury sedan was the “most-viewed single advertising spot in U.S. television history”, according to Kantar Media’s Super Bowl audience study.
The spot, which was telecast at 9:37 PM EST during the game’s “two-minute warning” official timeout, reached an audience rating of 43.5 — the highest among all ad spots shown during the TV program, which reached 111.3 million viewers. Additionally, Kantar’s study showed that commercials broadcast during the Super Bowl’s fourth quarter “had higher viewership than those appearing earlier.”
The spot breaks the previous record for the largest audience watching a single commercial, which was held by a spot for the Chevy Camaro during Super Bowl XLV in 2011.
For those living under a rock, Caddy’s (stunning) Green Hell ad features the 2013 ATS making its way around the world-famous Nürburgring racetrack in Germany. It also directly calls out the BMW 3 Series.
The GM Authority Take
The commercial itself was not the most-watched ad of all time. Instead, it was the spot — the pot in time that the ad actually aired — that was most popular. Even so, we congratulate General Motors, Cadillac, and its advertising partners on a spot well-chosen and on an ad well-made. For the sake of recreation and good time, here is the 30-second ad… since we just can’t get enough of it:
Comments
Sweet!
What a great ad!!!!!! Well done
As you point out, this is just great (or lucky) timing for the airing of the commercial. As far as “viral” goes, the ad isn’t even close to the top viral “Big Game” ads.
Honda got huge buzz for its “Matthew’s Day Off” ad for the CR-V, now let’s see if that increases sales. Acura paid huge money for its “Transactions” ad with Jerry Seinfield for the NSX concept car. People talked about it, but the NSX is still in concept form and years away from actual production and sales. I doubt it will may anyone rush into their closest Acura dealer for a deal on a TL or RDX.
Then there was the Chrysler “It’s Halftime in America” that has huge numbers, but it’s now become a political football. If you saw “Gran Torino” I think Eastwood was a great choice as he made a film showing the desperate plight and decay of Detroit. But now it turned into a referendum on Obama and the auto company bailouts. Oh well. It was a lovely piece of Hollywood getting you to “willingly suspend disbelief” about the Motor City as well as feel patriotic even though Chrysler is a subsidiary of an Italian company! [Full disclosure, I’m a big Eastwood fan, both his acting and directing.]
Bottom line, I thought Cadillac’s “Green Hell” was predictable and tedious and that it won’t compel people to rush to their Cadillac dealer to place an order for the ATS or pull them away from the new 3-Series. More work needs to be done to make that happen.
Yes sir. But it’s a start… and more is on the way!
I thought the ad was clever and well presented….hope to see some more new ones soon…..I am waiting for Cadillac to update their site with more info regarding this car…..maybe a build your own update!
Well, it is a Cadillac and some people would never buy the bradn but would rather have a bmw or the like…..
the song in the ad is “Totally Free” by Elk City. http://www.elkcity.net
Thanks Ray!
This is a hollow achivement.
So they’ve reached 111mil, that doesn’t mean it won’t be eclipsed next year by some 1min long saga or some witty Geico driveby.
Also, consider how likely this ad is to remain lodged in everyone’s brain. This clip of stock ATS footage isn’t really as moving or as memerable when the VO subutelly says “go to (green) hell”.
Contrast this to when I say “1984 ad”, and I’m sure you’ll know what I mean by memorable.