These (Do It Yourself) Bites Are Made For Poppin'

I thought the Pizza Hut Super Bowl spot was nice enough. Then I found their microsite .. built a few of my own custom mixes and now I can't stop singin' it..

Welcome to the club!

More than half of U.S. adults (54 percent) who watch the big game do so as much or more for the commercials as for the game itself, according to a survey commissioned by ad agency Hanon McKendry and conducted by Harris Interactive Inc. last week. The survey indicated that nearly one in five viewers (19 percent) would watch the game mainly for the commercials, while more than 35 percent are equally as entertained by the commercials as the game itself.

"We knew the Super Bowl commercials helped build some of the buzz surrounding the game, but we were a little surprised by the results," said Hanon McKendry President Bill McKendry in a release. "This information confirms that the Super Bowl is as much a media event as it is a sporting event."

Among the findings:

The ads apparently are less appealing to older viewers: 62 percent of viewers aged 18 to 34 watch as much or more for the commercials than the game, versus less than 42 percent of viewers aged 55 and older.

Women reported that they were much more likely to watch the Super Bowl for the ads than men: among those who planned to watch the game, nearly 20 percent more of women (62 percent) than of men (47 percent) planned to watch as much or more for the commercials than the game.

Among those who planned to watch the Super Bowl, retirees (38 percent) and the unemployed (49 percent) were less likely than students (64 percent) and part- timers (65 percent) to say that they'd be watching at least as much for the commercials as the game.

Harris Interactive fielded the online survey between Jan, 27 and 31 among a nationwide sample of 2,345 U.S. adults 18 years of age or older, of whom 1,629 planned to watch the Super Bowl.

-- Tobi Elkin is Executive Editor, MediaPost.