The oft-overlooked Clydesdale
wins American hearts this year

USA Today has released the results of its annual Ad Meter, which measures the popularity of respective Super Bowl ads.

A Budweiser ad, where a dalmatian trains a racing Clydesdale to the theme of Rocky, earned top marks with a rank of 8.73. It was followed by a FedEx ad involving carrier pigeons, rated 8.26; and a Bridgestone ad where a squirrel is nearly hit by a car (8.11).

The Budweiser ad was longest at :60; FedEx took 45 seconds, and Bridgestone's spot totaled only 30 seconds.

The tail-end of the ad pile included a melodramatic Under Armour spot with over 20 athletes (:60, rated 4.93), a message from the White House about prescription drug abuse (:30, rated 4.68), and — at bottom — a Doritos music video for a recent contest winner, which took 60 seconds and was rated 4.5.

In last year's results, Super Bowl ads for Budweiser and Bud Light topped polls for USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.

MySpace.com/SuperBowlAds, frequently advertised during the game, hosts all Super Bowl 2008 spots organized by chronological airtime.