Early Testing Shows 2026 Could Be the Strongest Big Game Ad Year Yet

​System1 has revealed which Big Game ads US audiences love most so far and which have the greatest potential to drive long-term growth and profit.

Early audience testing reveals ads from the NFL, Budweiser, Ring, Dove, and Pepsi ranking highest, sparking strong positive emotional responses. The top-performing campaigns share common creative strengths, including stories rooted in pop culture, recognisable music, exaggerated humour and parody.

With more than 100,000 ads, System1’s Test Your Ad Competitive Edge platform is the world’s largest database of emotional norms. It measures consumers’ emotional responses to creative, assigning a score of 1.0 to 5.9 Stars based on long-term brand-building potential. Ads that make people feel intense, positive emotions like happiness and surprise score high on the scale.

Early-release Big Game ads currently average 3.2 Stars, the strongest performance yet at this stage and well above the 2.3-Star average for all US ads, signaling good brand-building potential. Since 2020, only seven Big Game ads have earned a coveted five-star rating, which predicts exceptional long-term growth. This year, two brands have already achieved it.

A growing challenge remains Fluency, or brand recall, which has dropped to a record low of 77% ahead of Sunday’s game. The biggest winners are brands using distinctive codes, memorable characters, or consistent celebrity cues to stand out.

Consumers’ favourite early-release ads win through:

1. Pop Culture — This year delivers no shortage of cultural cues. Some brands are leaning into heritage and origin, as Budweiser does with confidence, while others play more lightly with culture, like Hellmann’s clever 'Meal Diamond' pun on a familiar icon. Pepsi is arguably the boldest of the lot, making a cheeky move on Coca-Cola territory. But by anchoring the moment in its own distinctive assets, from the Taste Challenge to unmistakable branding and timely cultural allusion, Pepsi ensures there’s no confusion about whose brand is really in the spotlight.

2. Melodic Music — Recognisable soundtracks are playing a big role this year, appearing across nearly all of our top performers. Brands like Hellmann’s and Pepsi use music playfully to land their brand message, while Budweiser, Ring, Lay’s, and the NFL harness it to create emotional dynamism. By building peaks and troughs into the emotional journey, these ads keep viewers engaged from start to finish.

3. Exaggeration and Parody— Playful takes on famous icons, cultural stereotypes, and even competitors are winning attention this year. Humour, despite being one of the strongest drivers of long-term growth, is still surprisingly underused in advertising, but this year’s work is clearly turning up the volume. Exaggerated characters, scenarios, and sets from brands like Bud Light and Hellmann’s are delivering surprise and high emotional intensity.

The top ads are ordered by Star Rating (predicted long-term brand-building potential). Ads equal on Star Rating are ordered according to System1’s Spike Rating (predicted short-term sales impact).

1. NFL (72andSunny), 'You Are Special' — 5.9 Stars

2. Budweiser (FCB New York), 'American Icon' — 5.6 Stars

3. Ring (in house, Miniac and Bemo), 'Search Party from Ring' – 4.5 Stars

4. Dove (Ogilvy), 'The Game is Ours' – 4.3 Stars

5. Pepsi (PepsiCo Content Studio and BBDO), 'The Choice' — 4.2 Stars

6. Hellmann’s (VML), 'Meal Diamond' — 4.1 Stars

7. Xfinity (Goodby Silverstein & Partners), 'Jurassic Park...Works' — 4.0 Stars

8. Bud Light (Anomaly), 'Keg' — 3.7 Stars

9. Toyota (Saatchi & Saatchi), 'Superhero Belt' — 3.6 Stars

10. Lay’s (Highdive), 'Last Harvest' — 3.4 Stars

“What’s especially encouraging with this year’s Big Game ads is how many brands are leaning into consistency, building on characters, promises, celebrities, and distinctive brand codes that audiences already know and love. With two brands already hitting five-Stars before kickoff, it’s clear that this is shaping up to be a really strong year for advertisers,” said Jon Evans, chief customer officer at System1 and host of Uncensored CMO.

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