Super Bowl Ads 2012: Putting Commercials on YouTube Before Game Ruins the Fun

The Super Bowl used to come with a special sense of anticipation, one that had nothing to do with the game itself. While fans across the globe always have and always will be hyped for the game, just as many people out there have always loved the Super Bowl because of the commercials.

That sense of anticipation, the one geared towards the ads, is gone now. The internet has taken it out back behind the shed and put it out of its misery.

You don't need to wait until Sunday to watch all the commercials. All of them, or at least most of them, are already online. All you need to do is Google the commercial you want to watch and, bam, there it is. If you don't know which commercial you want to watch, just Google "Super Bowl commercials 2012."

A couple ads have already drawn millions of views on YouTube. For example, Honda's Ferris Bueller ad already has over 10 million hits, and Volkswagen's "The Dog Strikes Back" ad already has over two million views despite the fact it's only been online since Sunday.

For all intents and purposes, Volkswagen popularized the notion of leaking a Super Bowl ad days before the big game. Last year, the company put its "The Force" ad on YouTube a couple days before the Super Bowl, and it went viral in an instant. 

On Feb. 7, the day after the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl, MSNBC reported that "The Force" had been viewed over 16 million times. It had been uploaded only five days earlier.

As of right now, the ad is approaching 50 million views.

This particular ad represents the absolute best case scenario for any company that would put its ads on YouTube. None are likely to have their ads replicate that kind of success, but virtually every company with a Super Bowl ad this year is trying anyway.

From a business standpoint, this makes perfect sense. Why wait to grab people's attention during the Super Bowl when you can start generating buzz on the internet ahead of time? You'll hook the internet crowd early and then hook everyone else when Super Sunday rolls around.

The end result: more money for everyone.

The fact that most of the early-leaked ads are racking up views like crazy is evidence that this strategy is working. But as a lifelong fan of Super Bowl ads, I'll speak for everyone when I say that there's something wrong about all this.

Put simply, the fun is being taken out of Super Bowl ads. 

We're used to Super Bowl ads being more special and more memorable than regular ads, but we're also used to them being shrouded in mystery. You didn't know what you were going to get until the day of the big game arrived.

Judging from the ads that are already out there, Super Bowl ads are still special and unique, but the sense of mystery is gone and will probably never be seen again. 

The true bummer is that the point is no longer about making ads for the Super Bowl. It's about making them for the internet and then using them for the Super Bowl.

The good news is that there is a happy medium here. There is a way to get the attention of internet-goers without spoiling the surprise that's supposed to be in store for the Super Bowl.

One word: teasers.

This is not an original idea, mind you. Honda released a teaser for its Ferris Bueller ad, and Volkswagen released a teaser for its fat dog ad. Thanks in large part to the buzz built by last year's ad, Volkswagen's teaser went viral. It currently has over 11 million views.

Yet nothing significant is revealed. These teasers are meant to do two things: generate buzz and get views. They're not meant to spoil the surprise.

The surprise should wait until the Super Bowl. Honda and Volkswagen concluded otherwise for the sake of good business, but there certainly would have been no harm in teasing their commercials, airing them during the Super Bowl and then uploading the full commercials after the fact.

This way, everyone wins. Companies build buzz, they surprise viewers during the game and then collect views later.

This would be a new way of doing things, to be sure, but the mysterious tradition of Super Bowl ads would remain intact.