Companies are paying more than ever for Super Bowl commercials at nearly $4 million for a 30-second spot, but many are trying a new tactic to increase exposure.

Manish Tripathi, a marketing professor at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, says rather than waiting for the game, more and more companies are releasing ads online beforehand to generate pre-Super Bowl buzz.

"The number of advertisers releasing the full ad is up by more than 20 percent from last year," says Tripathi, co-founder of the Emory Sports Marketing Team.

The Emory Sports Marketing Team analyzed all ads released before the Super Bowl in 2013 and followed their Twitter mentions more than a month after the Super Bowl.

"What we found is that if you preview the ad, you get the biggest increase before the Super Bowl," Tripathi says. "But if you look at the longer-term effect a month after the Super Bowl, pre-releasing or previewing has no effect, whereas putting the whole ad out there tends to have more of a permanent increase."

Many companies still wait for the Super Bowl unveiling of their new ad, but Tripathi expects we'll see a steady increase in online releases in the years instead of waiting for the big game.