Doritos Super Bowl Spot Was the Most-Watched Ad of All Time

A Doritos commercial featuring two men attacked in a gym for stealing someone else’s Doritos was seen by an estimated 116.2 million viewers last Super Bowl Sunday, making it the most watched television commercial of all time, according to The Nielsen Company. The ad ran in the game’s fourth quarter at 9:30pm ET.

“For an advertiser to make its pitch to more than 116 million viewers at once shows that the Super Bowl remains the single largest television platform for marketers,” said Pat McDonough, senior vice president for insights and analysis at Nielsen. “And with Super Bowl advertisers adding thousands – if not millions – of commercial views through online and social media exposure, they are able to extend their multi-million dollar investments beyond the game itself.”

Audi’s “Green Police” ad earned the title of second most viewed ad with 115.6 million watching. Electronic Arts’ spot for its new game Dante’s Inferno drew 115.1 million.

Focus on the Family’s ad featuring Tim Tebow tied for the least viewed ad of Super Bowl XLIV, despite the heavy pre-game buzz going into the game.

Only paid advertisements were included in the complete list. But Nielsen’s analysis found that the much-discussed 15-second promo for CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” featuring cameo appearances by Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey was seen by an estimated 110.4 million viewers.

Until Sunday, the season finale of M*A*S*H in 1983 aired the highest commercial minute, when an estimated 108.9 million viewers watched the second half hour of the program.