According to real-time measured feedback from a select group of TV viewers by USA Today's Ad Meter, these are this millennium's top ranked Super Bowl commercials.

Super Bowl XXXIV (2000) : Budweiser

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $2 million / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 88,465,000
Rating (game): 43.3
   

Super Bowl XXXV (2001) : Bud Light

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $2.2 million / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 84,335,000
Rating (game): 40.4
   

Super Bowl XXXVI (2002) : Bud Light

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $2.2 million / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 86,801,000
Rating (game): 40.4
   

Super Bowl XXXVII (2003) : Budweiser

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $2.2 million / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 88,637,000
Rating (game): 40.7
   

Super Bowl XXXVIII (2004) : Bud Light

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $2,302,200 / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 89,795,000
Rating (game): 41.4
   

Super Bowl XXXIX (2005) : Bud Light

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $2.4 million / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 86,072,000
Rating (game): 41.1
   

Super Bowl XL (2006) : Bud Light

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $2.5 million / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 90,745,000
Rating (game): 41.6
   

Super Bowl XLI (2007) : Budweiser

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $2,385,365 / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 93,184,000
Rating (game): 42.6
   

Super Bowl XLII (2008) : Budweiser

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $2,699,963 / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 97,448,000
Rating (game): 43.1
   

Super Bowl XLIII  (2009) : Doritos

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $3 million / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 98,732,000
Rating (game): 42.0
   
Note: - Highest $/30 sec ad slot price
- Cheapest super bowl commercial ever. Total cost: $2000

Super Bowl XLIV (2010) : Snickers

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Product: Beer
Avg. Ad Slot: $2.8 million / 30 seconds
   
US Viewers: 106,476,000
Rating (game): 45.0
   
Note: - Most-watched program of all time
- Highest Super Bowl rating this millennium (highest Super Bowl all time is 1982 with 49.1)

3 Take-aways From 10 Super Bowl Ads

  1. Quit whatever you're doing and start selling beer
  2. $2000 is the new million
  3. There are two safe zones: humor and animal cuteness induced emotions. Anything else is off.

Got favorites?

About the Author: Ruud Hein

I love helping to make web sites make it. From the ground up if needed. CSS challenges, server-side scripting, user and device friendly JavaScript tricks search engines have no problems with. Tracking how the sites perform and then figuring out how to make that performance and the tracking better. I'm passionate about information. No matter how often I trim my feeds in my feed readers (yes, I use more than one), I always have a couple of hundred in there covering topics ranging from design to usability, from SEO to SEM, from life hacks to productivity blogs, from.... Well, you get the idea, I guess. Knowledge and information management is close to my heart. Has to be with the amount of information I track. My "trusted system" is usually in flux but always at hand and fully searchable. My paid passion job at Search Engine People sees me applying my passions and knowledge to a wide array of problems, ones I usually experience as challenges. It's good to have you here: pleased to meet you!