Updated with final rankings: Marketers punched a variety of emotional buttons with their pricey 2026 Super Bowl TV ads — ranging from heartwarming to nostalgic and from funny to inspiring — as they tried to break out of the pack.
The most-liked ad of Super Bowl LX? As ranked by ad-tracking and analytics firm iSpot, the No. 1 spot was the NFL’s inspirational “Belief Is a Superpower,” a heartstring-tugging thank-you to coaches everywhere.
NBCUniversal, whose NBC broadcast network and Peacock streaming service carried the Super Bowl this year, had three ads on the iSpot most-liked ranking. Tied at No. 3 were Universal Orlando Resort’s “Lil’ Bro,” showing the bonding between two brothers when their family goes to the theme park, and the Universal/Illumination teaser for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” In addition, NBCU’s sizzle-reel branding spot “Peacock Is Universal” was No. 6.
No. 5 on the ranking was Budweiser’s “American Icons” tear-jerker, in which one of the brewer’s famous Clydesdales nurtures (spoiler!) a baby bald eagle to adulthood. It’s set to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.”
In 7th place on iSpot’s ranking was Amazon’s Alexa+ spot starring Chris Hemsworth, who runs through several horrifying thought experiments about how the advanced AI might be plotting to murder him in his own home.
Landing at No. 8: Pepsi’s “The Choice,” in which the soda company revived the Cola Wars taste-test challenge from the 1980s by co-opting one of Coca-Cola’s polar bears — who is shaken to the core of his ursine soul after he realizes he prefers Pepsi. It’s directed by actor and filmmaker Taika Waititi and set to Queen’s “I Want to Break Free.”
According to iSpot, it measures a commercial’s “likeability” using a proprietary ranking system with a score ranging from 1-950, based on responses from a panel of more than 500 U.S. consumers who evaluate each ad. Over the last five Super Bowls, the average iSpot likeability score of all spots is 641.
SEE ALSO: Super Bowl Ad Review: Even AI Companies Aim for Fun Over Frowns in ‘Joyful’ Commercial Scramble
NBC sought from $7 million to more than $10 million for 30 seconds of ad time in the national Super Bowl LX telecast, and inventory for the Big Game sold out by early September.
Here are the top 10 ads from the 2026 Super Bowl, ranked by their likeability score as measured by iSpot:
1. NFL “Belief Is a Superpower” (Likeability score: 756)
2. Search Party From Ring | Be A Hero In Your Neighborhood (Likeability score: 755)
3 (tie). Universal Orlando Resort, “Lil’ Bro” (Likeability score: 753)
3 (tie). Universal & Illumination, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” Roar Teaser (Likeability score: 753)
5. Budweiser, “American Icons” (Likeability score: 747)
6. NBCUniversal “Peacock Is Universal” (Likeability score: 730)
7. Chris Hemsworth Thinks Alexa+ Is Scary Good (Likeability score: 720)
8. Pepsi, “The Choice” (Likeability score: 728)
9 (tie). Michelob Ultra’s “The Ultra Instructor” featuring Kurt Russell, Lewis Pullman, Chloe Kim and TJ Oshie (Likeability score: 708)
9 (tie). Lay’s “Last Harvest” (Likeability score: 708)
Other Super Bowl LX ads that registered above-average likeability scores on iSpot’s index included Comcast’s Xfinity “Jurassic Park… Works,” featuring Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum; Toyota’s “Where Dreams Began”; Bud Light’s “Keg” featuring Shane Gillis, Post Malone and Peyton Manning; and Dove’s “The Game Is Ours.”
The spot for PepsiCo’s “Lay’s Challenge” giveaway, in which the snack maker is sending free bags of chips within 72 hours to the first 100,000 users who scanned an on-screen QR code, had a top 758 likeability score from iSpot’s panel — who doesn’t love free junk food? But the measurement company excluded “Lay’s Challenge” from its most-liked Super Bowl ads final ranking because the commercial was promoting a sweepstakes that panel members could have entered.
