Conversation around Super Bowl #51 invaded social media on Sunday and Monday. The Patriots feat to come back from a 28-3 deficit, Lady Gaga's performance, and politically-charged Super Bowl themes dominated social media chatter globally.
Searching for posts with the hashtag #superbowl, Netbase used its Instant Search social analytics engine to mine 300 million sources (including social networks and blogs), and found that 2.7 million people authored 5.7 million original posts between noon on Sunday and 1 pm Monday (all times EST), leading to almost 40 billion impressions. With a comprehensive set of Super Bowl hashtags including #SB #SB51, and #superbowl2017, the count more than doubles, at 11.9 million posts and 86 billion impressions!
Super Bowl Sunday's social media chatter is impressive on its own. There were 27.6 million Super Bowl Tweets globally from 3-11 pm (includes re-Tweets). On Facebook and Instagram combined, about 110 million people had 400 million interactions (posts, comments, reactions) from 3 am to midnight. Interestingly, over 90 percent of Facebook interactions took place on mobile, and video was a big part of the action, as there were 262 million views of Super Bowl-related videos on the platform.
A Historical Come Back
Needless to say, a big topic of conversation happened during and after the game, when millions of people shared the developments as the Patriots rose in the fourth quarter to take the record for a Super Bowl come back and win in the first over-time in Super Bowl history.
Athletes and celebrities contributed to the social media conversation as Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady shared a picture of his family, along with the hashtag #NeverStopBelieving, after the game. Meanwhile, his teammate Julian Edelman also shared a photo of the pure joy he felt following the dramatic victory. Other athletes and celebrities also shared parts of their Super Bowl Sunday on Facebook:
- Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper used Facebook Live to broadcast his brother cooking a Super Bowl party spread.
- Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps posted a photo of his son, Boomer, holding a regulation-sized NFL football.
Musicians also joined the conversation. Kenny Chesney and Darius Rucker posted photos with family at the game, while Jason Aldean shared his celebration of a Falcons touchdown.
A Jaw-Dropping Half-time Show
The Super-Bowl chatter was also fueled by Lady Gaga's jaw-dropping performance as she dropped from the sky. Leading up to the half-time show, during the show, and right after, there were 5.1 million Tweets about #Gaga's performance (7:50 - 8:40 pm). This embeddable interactive map shows how the game and halftime show played out, including geotagged Tweets during each score and @LadyGaga’s halftime show performance.
Politically Charged Game and Ads
The digital buzz was partially driven by the fact that the game and several of its ads were politically charged. According to Netbase, Donald Trump's Tweet prior to the game was the most popular post across social media sites with the hashtag #superbowl, with 283,000 engagements (replies, retweets, and likes).
Given the excitement of the game, the Super Bowl's advertising machine also made its way into social media, to the benefit of advertisers. Consumers spent a record 350,000 combined hours watching Super Bowl #51 ads on YouTube. Below are the brands that stole the spotlight during this year’s Twitter Ad Bowl, ranked by Twitter chatter.
Most mentioned brands in pre/post game Tweets related to Super Bowl #51, from 3-11 pm EST. Source:... [+]
Several ads had a political message. The most talked about ad on Facebook on Sunday was Audi's “Daughter”, garnering 2.4 million views. The ad promoted gender equality in the workplace. An ad for the construction-supply company 84 Lumber featured a Mexican mother and daughter on a journey to the United States in search of a better life.
According to CNET “on Facebook, the commercials for Transformers: The Last Knight, Airbnb's #WeAccept campaign, and "Pirates of the Caribbean" were still trending on Monday. On the other hand, Budweiser is facing backlash for its pro-immigration ad, with a trending hashtag #boycottbudwiser, despite the blatant typo.”
This may come to be one of the most talked about events in the history of social media. The amazing social media buzz around Super Bowl #51 should leave no doubt to sports and entertainment companies, and to advertisers in general, about the power of digital social channels.
