Dive Brief:

• Budweiser was the big winner in the Super Bowl. Its "Puppy Love" commercial was ranked most popular by USAToday's Ad Meter, which has ranked the Super Bowl ads for 26 years.
• The spot is a sort of love-conquers-all tale featuring the Budweiser Clydesdales and a puppy.
• The win was the second in a row for Bud. Last year, it won with a similar ad about the bond between a Clydesdale and its trainer.
• Bud also took third place on the Ad Meter with a spot about a soldier returning home.

Dive Insight:

If you listened closely last night as "Puppy Love" aired, you could hear a strange howl all across the nation. That's the sound of millions of people all saying "awww" and "cute" at the same time.

The commercial is so over-the-top sweet that it feels more like a children's TV show than a beer ad. Still, folks apparently loved it. Internet tracking service iSpot also gave it the top rating of last night's game.