In recent years, a fourth-quarter Super Bowl spot has been the equivalent of getting Eli Manning’s autograph when you really wanted Peyton’s. It's a little disappointing.

You were in the game but spent much of your time on the bench, so to speak, since by fourth quarter most viewers had tuned out.

This year the value of those fourth-quarter spots shot up right along with the younger Manning’s star.

The Manning-led New York Giants' come-from-behind scoring drive in the final minute ensured that many viewers kept watching right through the postgame show, in stark contrast to the last few years, when blowout games have led viewers to begin tuning out after halftime.

An estimated 105.7 million total viewers saw the final half hour of the game, from 9:30 to 10 p.m., well above the 97.5 million total viewers for the game and marking one of the biggest audiences in television history.

That meant huge viewership for the spots that aired during the fourth quarter, including Coke’s parade ad, Bud Light’s Will Ferrell spot, and Victoria’s Secret Valentine’s Day commercial. They also became some of this year’s most-talked-about commercials.

And they presumably aired at far less cost than the average $2.7 million advertisers paid for this year's Super Bowl. Ads airing after half-time typically go for less.

“This was one of those cases where those who took the chance were rewarded,” says Rick Gentile, a former CBS Sports senior vice president and current professor of sport management and director of the Seton Hall Sports Poll.

“Generally speaking, the history of Super Bowl games is that they’re not all that exciting or compelling in the fourth quarter," he said. "Often the outcome is already established, so most advertisers, or many, have sort of said the risk is too great.”

Last year, for example, Super Bowl commercial pods saw the biggest dips during fourth quarter, according to Nielsen data analyzed by Carat, whereas in first quarter, where the most expensive spots generally air, viewing for some commercial pods actually bettered game levels.

For some advertisers, this year's fourth-quarter boost provided a much-needed lift.

Coca-Cola, whose case sales fell 5 percent during the first three quarters of 2007, returned to the Super Bowl last year after a nine-year absence. This year the company’s fourth-quarter ad “It’s Mine” was the No. 3 spot out of more than 50 ranked on AdBowl.com.

It showed the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons fighting over a Coke, and it also ranked No. 7 on USA Today’s AdMeter.

“It’s always a risk to be in the fourth quarter if it’s a blowout, you’re at the risk of losing audience,” Gentile says. “But this year, it’s where you wanted to be.”

E*Trade, the discount brokerage firm, purchased a fourth-quarter spot as well as one in the third quarter, an expensive move that many were second-guessing after the company saw its stock plunge to all-time lows to end last year.

Yet that fourth quarter spot, in which a baby hires a clown with money made off his investments, ranked No. 6 out of more than 50 spots yesterday on AdBowl.com and No. 11 on SpotBowl.com.

“The later in the game you choose to advertise the more advantageous the price, so I’m told,” says John January, vice president and director of brand voice for Sullivan Higdon & Sink. “With an historic game going down to the final seconds, this year’s fourth quarter advertisers got a wonderful value.”

The strong fourth quarter spots came in what many agreed was otherwise a somewhat down year creatively for the Super Bowl ads. HCD Research, which measured reactions from more than 2,000 experts and consumers, found that viewers had a worse reaction to this year’s ads than last year’s.

“There were no risk-taking ads, they were pretty generic and similar to last year,” says Glenn Kessler, president and chief executive officer of the research company in Flemington, N.J. “I’d say subjectively they were less exciting, and the response we got confirmed it.”