• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, February 9, 2010

Did a Super Bowl ad help truTV? Some may label it a first down, not a score. The same might hold for Denny's and its spots.

The truTV spot promoted the new show "NFL Full Contact," and its premiere the night after the game. While the debut produced ratings above the network's season averages, the numbers were well below its Monday lead-in.

"Full Contact" at 10 p.m. drew 713,000 adults 18-49 and 1.26 million total viewers in "live plus same day" figures. By one measure, that topped the network's season average of 570,000 and 1.16 million, respectively.

But the episode of "Operation Repo" that ran right before "Full Contact's" debut at 9:30 p.m. drew 1.2 million in the 18-49 demo -- 66% higher than the NFL show. And "Repo's" total viewers (2.32 million) were about 1 million people higher.

The spot was a Groundhog Day-spoof with Pittsburgh star Troy Polamalu plugging six more weeks of football. The six-episode "Full Contact" promises a behind-the-scenes look at the NFL.

Separately, Denny's ran two spots promoting a free Grand Slam breakfast for all on Tuesday. The chain said approximately 2 million people took advantage. That was about the same as last year, when Denny's tried the same stunt of offering the free breakfast two days after the game. (The fast-food eatery ran one ad in last year's game.)

Denny's was hoping for an increase in customers, but attributed a failure there partly to bad weather in the Midwest and Washington areas, which could have discouraged people from waiting in line. A year ago, Denny's spent $5 million on the promotion, including the ad costs and free meals.

Denny's said it had approximately 24 million hits on its Web site post-game. CEO Nelson Marchioli stated that Tuesday was "a great day for Denny's. We received an outpouring of the most genuine and heartwarming comments from our guests, servers and managers."

The chain ran a third Super Bowl ad promising a free Grand Slam on one's birthday. The signature Grand Slam, with pancakes, eggs and more, costs about $6.