• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 8, 2016

Edmunds released data Sunday during Super Bowl 50 showing how television commercials from automotive manufacturers running prior to and during the game affected searches on its Web site for automakers and their brands. The data analyzed searches on desktop and mobile.

Mini, Acura, Fiat, Buick, Audi, and Hyundai were among the top five brands -- with an overall increase in searches on desktop and mobile of 100%, 38%, 25%, 15%, and 13%, respectively.

Jeep with 76% and Kia with 203% were the two brands that saw the highest traffic lift on Edmunds.com during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 50.

Even advertisements that had little to do with the brand but ran during halftime experienced an uptick in searches. Jeep's eclectic Super Bowl 50 advertisement during halftime stitched together striking photographs of famous and ordinary faces with a connection to the Fiat Chrysler brand, pushing up searches on Edmunds.com by 73%.

Site visitors continually searched for Hyundai. Hyundai Elantra experienced a steady increase in searches on Edmunds.com throughout the first half. In the second quarter, searches for Hyundai Elantra rose 109% -- up from 99% in the first quarter, and 10% pre-game. The Audi R8 rose 912% and 5952% during the first and second quarter, respectively.

The TV spots seemed to have staying power. Buick Cascada, Hyundai Genesis, and Audi R8 did not air a TV ad during the second quarter, but searches on the site rose 2716%, 71%, and 912%, respectively.

Pre-game, Fiat experienced the highest lift. Searches rose 28% on Edmunds.com. Mercedes-Benz rose 3%, also pre-game. Interestingly, Dodge -- which aired a brand advertisement at 1:21 p.m. Pacific -- rose 4%; and Hyundai Genesis showed the highest increase in searches on the site with 41% pre-game.

While Fiat 500x rose 13% during pre-game, Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class at 10% and Chevrolet Volt and Ford F-Series experienced no lift on the site.

As Super Bowl 50 got underway, the advertised models during the first quarter of the game with the highest traffic lift on Edmunds.com were Hyundai Elantra, rising 99%; Audi R8, 5952%; and Buick Cascada with 3714%, which ran a spot during the first quarter.

The advertised brands during the first quarter with the highest traffic lift on the site were Hyundai with 77% and Buick with 211%.