Super Bowl commercials: Hyundai wins Super Bowl auto ad wars

NEW YORK - While some automakers gambled on long, emotional or quirky Super Bowl ads, Hyundai's commercials were the most effective drivers of web traffic.

The automotive website Edmunds.com analyzed Internet traffic during the Super Bowl to see which ads resulted in large traffic surges during the broadcast.

The big winner — at least in terms of immediate interest — was Hyundai, which saw a 738% increase in traffic to pages about its Santa Fe model after the company's ad hit the air.

The Santa Fe ad, which features the recently re-designed seven-seat version of the SUV, depicted a young boy and his mother gathering a group of friends to confront a group of bullies at a local park.

The Santa Fe spot far outstripped the next closest auto ad -- an Audi commercial featuring the S6 performance sedan. In that commercial, a young man who goes dateless to his high school prom ends up kissing the prom queen and getting a black eye from the prom king.

The Audi ad also seemed to result in a big jump in interest for the larger, more expensive Audi S8, although that car was not shown in the commercial.

Jeep's commercial, which solicited support for the USO and returning members of the U.S. military, led to only a modest bump in immediate interest in Jeep vehicles, according to Edmunds.com.

Cars advertised shortly before the game resulted in even larger traffic surges, according to Edmunds.com. Interest in the just-introduced Mercedes-Benz CLA-class sedan rose over 1,500% after an ad ran during the pre-grame show. That is a brand-new model, however, and many consumers were likely seeing it for the first time.

The Hyundai Genesis, which was also advertised shortly before kick-off, received an 830% bump in web traffic.