Buzziest Super Bowl ads feature 'Friends' reunion, Tina Fey, Jenna Ortega, Peyton Manning

The Super Bowl LVIII ads are coming, and in fact many are already here, with some 30 commercials “prereleased" by Wednesday, or nearly half  the total that will air during Sunday's game.

And they are getting attention, too. According to raw number counts on Youtube.com, for example, Booking.com's ad with Tina Fey has been viewed a total of 32 million times since its release last Friday. If “buzz" can also be measured in terms of sheer media attention, then Uber Eats' reunion of Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer (1.1 million views) took that crown just hours after release early Wednesday.

This splurge of pre-releases features the usual Super Bowl elements — humor and celebrities — with a not-unexpected twist: There is so much more of both than in years past, say observers. Peter Daboll, chief strategy officer of Bellevue, Wa.-based iSpot, an industry leader in determining Super Bowl ad “effectiveness," says “we track humor every year and it's been rising steadily, along with celebrities, and not just one per ad but often multiple celebrities." Advertisers, he says, are “playing it safe, and are not trying to be too message-heavy."

“The public mood is such that people want to see lighter and more humorous themes right now," says Super Bowl ad expert Charles R. Taylor, professor of marketing at the Villanova School of Business. That means politics is out, he says, while feel-good messaging is in. “There's pressure on advertisers to be socially responsible but we see what happens when they get into political territory [Bud Light] so they take up issues that aren't controversial," like Hellman's new “Mayo Cat'' ad with Sea Cliff native Kate McKinnon. “Food waste won't offend anyone."

Sixteen of the prereleased commercials so far feature multiple celebrities. This year's crop has several Super Bowl ad novices, too, including Martin Scorsese and his daughter, Francesca Scorsese, for Squarespace.

Meanwhile there will be several advertisers new to the Super Bowl (Popeyes, Drumstick and Kawasaki). Others — most notably, VW — are returning after a long absence. Budweiser's famed Clydesdales — a Super Bowl staple going back decades — will also be back after sitting out 2023.

Here are five ads that were getting online traction days in advance of Sunday's LVIII:

UBER EATS “DON'T FORGET" Not exactly a “Friends" reunion, but enough of one to generate considerable media attention Wednesday. Aniston “forgets" who Schwimmer is (while Victoria and David Beckham “forget" what girl band group she was in). The message — Uber Eats never forgets.

BUD LIGHT “EASY NIGHT OUT'' Veteran TV star (“Mindhunter," “You're the Worst'') and commercial pitchman (Folgers, Jimmy John's) Sonny Valicenti stars as the Bud Light Genie who will grant someone any wish (Post Malone and Peyton Manning are also featured). That's not quite the reason for all the buzz surrounding this elaborate spoof spot, however: It's parent company AB InBev's first major attempt to defuse the Bud Light boycott that followed the hiring of trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney in 2023.

E*TRADE “BABIES" Like those Clydesdales, the E*Trade talking baby has been a Super Bowl fixture for years (2008-14, then sporadically since) while two babies will make their chatty debut Sunday, as a doubles team on a pickleball court competing against adults. Spoiler alert: Talking babies win.

DORITOS “DINAMITA" Jenna Ortega's (“Wednesday") “grandmothers," Dina and Mita, go on a high-speed chase in pursuit of Danny Ramirez (“Top Gun Maverick") who has the last bag of Doritos Dinamitas. The 15-second “tease" for this ad released two weeks ago has nearly 5 million views on YouTube.

BOOKING.COM “TINA FEY'S BODY DOUBLE" “With so many choices on Booking.com, there are so many Tina Feys I could be, so I hired body doubles …" The sight gags that follow include a Tina Fey cave man, and Glenn Close as Tina Fey. Already a Super Bowl winner, this has dozens of millions of views.