The spot opens in a 1940s office. The space is messy, filled with books and papers. In the background we hear the tick-tock of a grandfather clock. We see an older man with wild hair pick up a violin. As he tunes the instrument, the camera focuses on various items around the room—a clock, a cup of coffee, piles of papers filed with equations. Gradually, as the man begins to play, viewers begin to realize the beautiful music he is playing is an instrumental rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”—and the man playing the violin is Albert Einstein. As the music builds, mathematical equations flash onto screen. With the final note, Einstein strikes his iconic, tongue-out pose. The screen goes to black with “Genius” prominently displayed across the center. “Series Premiere April 25” fades onto screen and the spot ends with the National Geographic Logo and “#Genius.”

The complete creative process of this commercial spanned a three-week timeframe, including: concept ideation, securing talent and music rights, recording the violin rendition of “Bad Romance” and shooting in Prague while the series was being filmed.

The 45-second spot ran directly after Lady Gaga’s halftime performance, during Super Bowl 51.

The commercial spot reached over 84MM unique Super Bowl viewers nationwide, driving more than 13 million video views in the week following the game. The show “Genius” was National Geographic’s most watched premiere ever.