COSTA MESA, Calif., Feb. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai is an automotive big winner in this year's Super Bowl as consumers ranked "Team" the fifth best commercial, and number one 30-second automotive ad, in the YouTube Ad Blitz.  In addition, "Team" cracked the top 10 on USA Today's all-important Ad Meter, and was the top-performing automotive 30-second ad overall. "Team" also ranked as the third most re-watched Super Bowl ad out of all advertisers according to TiVo.

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"Ad Blitz is a celebration of the most creative, engaging and powerful Super Bowl ads of the year, providing viewers with a place to watch, learn and chat about their favorite ads," said Suzie Reider, head of industry development, YouTube. "The winners of this year's Ad Blitz represent the ads that resonated most with viewers, with millions of views and votes on YouTube."

With more than 14.2 million total views, Hyundai's Super Bowl ads currently have the fourth highest number of YouTube views for any automotive manufacturer. In addition, Hyundai Facebook and Twitter social channels are seeing post-game spikes with 15,000 new Facebook fans and the hashtag #pickyourteam currently used more than 20,000 times.

In the aftermath of Super Bowl weekend, Hyundai's chart-topping commercials continue to drive social popularity for the brand and interest for the all-new seven-passenger Santa Fe.  The new commercials were deemed the most effective drivers of web traffic, recognizing the highest consideration increases on key third party sites such as Edmunds.com, Cars.com and AutoTrader.com. Web tracking reveals Santa Fe model page views up 738 percent on Edmunds.com, Genesis received an 830 percent bump in web traffic on Cars.com and there was a 1,000 percent brand interest increase on AutoTrader.com.

"This is a banner year for Hyundai. Breaking into the top 10 for both the USA Today Ad Meter and YouTube Ad Blitz is a true measure of the success and impact of our commercials," said Steve Shannon, vice president, Marketing, Hyundai Motor America. "This Super Bowl, Hyundai also had the highest¹ percentage increase of new fans. With Twitter traffic at 24.1 million tweets during Super Bowl XLVII – up nine million from last year – and sites like YouTube and Facebook continuing to provide consumers with timely information on 'what is trending now,' it is more important for marketers to cut through the clutter and rise to the top."

"Stuck", Hyundai's second quarter in-game ad also placed in the USA Today Ad Meter top 20 and was ranked 8^th among all Super Bowl ads by Ace Metrix, the industry standard in television and video analytics.

"The commercial is really the first step to engagement," continues Shannon. "We are always reinventing our advertising strategy to ensure that it has multiple touch points, both on and off the screen. An example of this is our 'Find Your Seven' social mobile campaign that leveraged the power of Facebook to create an entertaining dual-screen experience for Super Bowl viewers. With this program extension alone, we are seeing 8.1 million impressions, 77,000 clicks and more than 5,800 videos generated."

The increased social chatter and overwhelming positive response to the new commercials translate to new highs on Hyundai.com and dealership websites. Data obtained after the commercials publicly aired reveal that Hyundai.com visits increased 51 percent over the January average, while mobile traffic went up 10 percent year-over-year. Santa Fe, the star of this year's Super Bowl advertising blitz, received a 591 percent increase year-over-year on its dedicated model page.  Hyundai dealer sites also benefited with a surge in web traffic of 261 percent during Super Bowl weekend and a 547 percent peak in mobile visits.

The success of Hyundai's Super Bowl advertising campaign extends beyond the social sphere with national media acclaim including top rankings and recognitions from leading news authorities such as:

• Fox Sports ranks "Team" as one of their 10 best-rated Super Bowl commercials
• Automotive News labeled "Stuck" and "Epic Play Date" as "Hits"
• Autoweek ranked "Team", "Epic Playdate" and  "Stuck" in the top 10
• Yahoo! lists "Epic Playdate" as one of the "Top 10 buzziest ads"
• TIME rated "Team" one of the best ads with an A- rating
• MTV listed "Epic Play Date" as one of the "The 10 Best Spots"
• VentureBeat named "Team" one of the "10 ads that 'won' the Super Bowl this year"

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA

Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 820 dealerships nationwide. All Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are covered by the Hyundai Assurance program, which includes the 5-year/60,000-mile fully transferable new vehicle warranty, Hyundai's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty, and five years of complimentary Roadside Assistance.

For more details on Hyundai Assurance, please visit www.HyundaiAssurance.com

Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com and our blog at www.hyundailikesunday.com

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¹ Networked Insights analyzed more than 24,000,000 real-time social media conversations across Twitter, Facebook, blogs and forums during the Super Bowl.

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America