“Be afraid, Madison Avenue. Be very afraid,” is Stuart Elliott’s warning in The New York Times. From the result of internet polls and YouTube hits, the big winner at this year’s Super Bowl is the DIY TV commercial – specifically the ones plugging Doritos.

Again this year, Doritos asked the public to produce a TV commercial suitable for the big game. The results of the third annual “Crash the Super Bowl” contest were impressive – and keep getting better. One of the ads, “Underdog,” made by Joshua Svoboda, won second place in the USA Today Ad Meter viewer survey, earning its creator a prize of $600,000. Pretty good for an initial layout of about $200.

Now the ad will live on – along with scores of other consumer-produced Doritos spots from fans around the world.

Dorito’s YouTube Channel, Crash The Super Bowl, carries now 20 user-generated videos that have clocked more than 6 million views.

Considering these numbers, Elliott got it only part right when he said Madison Avenue should be worrying. The TV networks should be nervous too. In three short years, Doritos has used the Super Bowl as a platform to build a formidable channel of its own dedicated to its tortilla chips. And it has more videos in the can, theoretically enough to keep fast-laugh junkies tuning in for some time.

To be sure, the millions who come to Doritos YouTube channels are a fraction of those who tune in for the big game. This year’s Super Bowl was seen by an estimated 106 million. And the World Cup later this year will be even bigger.

As tempting as it may sound for a beloved brand to go it alone, there is an interesting lesson here, even in Doritos’ success. The most viewed Doritos video on YouTube, “House Rules,” (above) didn’t even come close to winning the contest. ” House Rules” features a sassy little black kid who smacks around a would-be suitor calling on his mom, warning, “keep your hands off my mama, keep your hands off my Doritos.” The same spot didn’t fare well in old media, ranking eleventh out of 63 Super Bowl spots, as judged by USA Today’s Ad Meter. Maybe it was too racy. But the bloggers seem to like it. As Kiss my Black Ads writes: “That commercial was straight gully [ghetto in a very bad way]! But I loved it!”