This analysis uses an event study to examine the impact of the USA Today Ad Meter ranking of television commercials broadcast during the Super Bowl on the valuation of advertiser stock prices in the period immediately following the event. As expected, the study confirms that positive advertising ranking is associated with positive stock valuation. But, surprisingly, the study also finds that ads rated at the bottom of the ranking list also produce statistically significant positive stock valuation, although the impact is not as strong as for the top ranked products.

The authors believe that the word-of-mouth generated by the publicity produced by this ad rating mechanism produces the positive impact on stock price for ads that score on the extremes of the scale, both high and low. In addition, the authors posit that the festive nature of the viewership experience during the Super Bowl creates an environment where negative evaluation of an ad may be overshadowed by the positive emotional experience of watching the Super Bowl. This implies that certain situations may dilute the impact of negative information on decision-making related to the purchase of stocks.