HarrisX Ad Index - World Cup Rankings

Key Highlights

Community and belonging as a core storytelling driver

Community and belonging emerge as a unifying thread across many of the top ads. Lay's builds its entire campaign around the idea that watch parties bring people together. Ball knowledge isn't a prerequisite, just showing up is. Pizza Hut takes a more intimate approach, anchoring its story in a father-son relationship that grows across decades of shared tournament memories. Airbnb and The Home Depot extend the same idea as Lay's, turning shared spaces, a neighborhood or a backyard into the setting for collective identity and togetherness.

Purpose-Driven and Social Impact Ads Continue to Perform Strongly

Several ads move beyond entertainment into social commentary. Dove uses its platform to champion body confidence, celebrating girls' joy and resilience in sport rather than physical appearance. Quaker leans on its positioning as a nutrition brand, spotlighting youth wellness and the energy kids bring to the game. Both use the World Cup stage to stand for something beyond the product itself.

Ads as anchors for broader experiential campaigns

The strongest-performing spots aren't standalone commercials rather they are the anchors for larger experiential experiences. American Airlines' "Spot the Bag" and Duracell's limited-edition Messi battery packs both extend the TV ad into real-world activations, and collectibles, turning a single spot into an engagement and customer acquisition strategy.

“The strongest Super Bowl ads this year weren’t trying to do the most — they were trying to connect,” said HarrisX CEO Dritan Nesho.

“Whether through family storytelling, social impact, or disciplined humor, the top-ranked ads showed that clarity and emotional relevance still win on the biggest advertising stage. Resonant, purpose-driven, and easy-to-understand creatives consistently outperform advertising that relies on novelty or complexity alone.”

Top 5 Ads Among Demographic Groups

Methodology

The 2026 HarrisX FIFA World Cup Ad Ranking is based on a nationally representative study of 12,484 U.S. adults conducted as part of the HarrisX Ad Index. Respondents were shown up to five randomly selected FIFA World Cup ads and asked to evaluate each spot individually across eight key measures of creative effectiveness and brand impact, including appeal, believability, clarity, memorability, likelihood to share, comparability to other TV ads, impact on the advertiser’s reputation, and the ad’s specific call to action. Each ad was evaluated by more than 500 respondents, with results combined into a proprietary 0–100 HarrisX Ad Index score.

Archive of HarrisX Super Bowl Ad Rankings

Explore the previous Super Bowl Ad Rankings below:

2025 Methodology

HarrisX tested 72 Super Bowl ads in a nationally representative study with 8,149 American adults. Each ad was evaluated individually by approximately 500 respondents across seven metrics: ad believability, clarity, memorability, likelihood to share with friends, comparability with most ads respondents see on TV, ad impact on the advertiser's reputation, and call to action. The composite score across the seven metrics is then indexed using proprietary HarrisX methodology yielding a score between 0 and 100.

2024 Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States from February 12-15, 2024 among 4,249 U.S. adults by HarrisX. The sampling margin of error of this poll is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. The results reflect a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. Results were weighted for gender, age, region, education, and income where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.
‍
Prior to the development of the Ad Index Score in 2025, we ranked advert's performance by their "Effectiveness", a measure of how likely they made the consumer want to engage with the product, service, or call to action advertised.

2023 Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States from February 13-16, 2023 among 2,994 U.S. adults by HarrisX with a pullout of 2,155 U.S. adults who watched the Super Bowl. The sampling margin of error of this poll is plus or minus 1.8 percentage points among for all adults and plus or minus 2.1 percentage points for those who watched the Super Bowl. The results reflect a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. Results were weighted for gender, age, region, education, and income where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.
‍
Prior to the development of the Ad Index Score in 2025, we ranked advert's performance by their "Effectiveness", a measure of how likely they made the consumer want to engage with the product, service, or call to action advertised.

2022 Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States from February 14-16, 2022 among 2,945 U.S. adults by HarrisX. The sampling margin of error of this poll is plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. The results reflect a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. Results were weighted for gender, age, region, education, and income where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.
‍
Prior to the development of the Ad Index Score in 2025, we ranked advert's performance by their "Effectiveness", a measure of how likely they made the consumer want to engage with the product, service, or call to action advertised.

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Washington DC

1808 I St NW,
Floor 5,
Washington DC 20006
United States

New York

Floor 66
One World Trade Center
New York, NY 10007
United States

London

3rd Floor, Blue Fin Building,
110 Southwark St,
London SE1 0SU,
United Kingdom

Toronto

351 King Street East
Suite 600
M5A 0L6
Toronto, Ontario

Melbourne

1/38 Gipps Street,
Collingwood VIC 3066
Melbourne,
Australia

Singapore

Solaris at One-North,
(North Tower)
1 Fusionopolis Walk,
Singapore, 138628

HarrisX Ad Index:World Cup Ad Ranking

Key Highlights

Community and belonging as a core storytelling driver

Purpose-Driven and Social Impact Ads Continue to Perform Strongly

Ads as anchors for broader experiential campaigns

America's Favorite World Cup Ads

1

Hershey

Listen to the Chocolatier

88.2

(Out of 100)

2

LAY'S

Bandwagon

85.9

(Out of 100)

3

Pizza Hut

Every Four Years

84.4

(Out of 100)

4

LAY'S

The Most Epic Watch Party

83.6

(Out of 100)

5

Quaker

Whole Body Nutrition

83.1

(Out of 100)

Top 5 Ads Among Demographic Groups

Methodology

Full World Cup 2026 Rankings

Archive of HarrisX Super Bowl Ad Rankings

2025 Methodology

2024 Methodology

2023 Methodology

2022 Methodology

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Washington DC

+1 416 907 7100

1808 I St NW,Floor 5,Washington DC 20006United States

New York

+1 416 907 7100

Floor 63One World Trade CenterNew York, NY 10007United States

London

+1 416 907 7100

3rd Floor, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark St, London SE1 0SU, United Kingdom

Toronto

+1 416 907 7100

351 King Street EastSuite 600M5A 0L6Toronto, Ontario

Melbourne

+1 416 907 7100

351 King Street EastSuite 600M5A 0L6Toronto, Ontario

Singapore

+1 416 907 7100

351 King Street EastSuite 600M5A 0L6Toronto, Ontario

HarrisX Ad Index:
World Cup Ad Ranking

1808 I St NW,
Floor 5,
Washington DC 20006
United States

Floor 63
One World Trade Center
New York, NY 10007
United States

3rd Floor, Blue Fin Building,
110 Southwark St,
London SE1 0SU,
United Kingdom

351 King Street East
Suite 600
M5A 0L6
Toronto, Ontario

351 King Street East
Suite 600
M5A 0L6
Toronto, Ontario

351 King Street East
Suite 600
M5A 0L6
Toronto, Ontario