Super Bowl 51 was one for the ages with at least 30 records set or tied and the New England Patriots overcoming the biggest deficit ever to win the first overtime game in Super Bowl history. Meanwhile, Tom Brady became the winningest Super Bowl quarterback. While early on it looked as thought the Atlanta Falcons were going to run away with the game, the Patriots rallied to win in thrilling victory.
On Super Bowl Sunday, there were over 37 million engagements around the event including the teams, players, and performers as people took to multiple screens to participate in the event. Tom Brady earned 2.5 million engagements for his MVP win while Lady Gaga gained 5.5 million engagements for her dazzling drone-filled performance.
The most buzzed about moment was the Patriots’ victory which generated over 600,000 engagements among the team and players within a 5 minute span. The spectacular halftime show also turned out to be one of the top moments of the night as people tweeted, mentioned, commented, and liked the shared television moment more than 100,000 times a minute at the end of the performance.
Super Bowl LI was groundbreaking for brands as well. Several experimented with live productions while others leaned heavily into the political climate.
One Coca-Cola ad made its second Super Bowl appearance, though aged like Brady, it remained just as powerful. Though people were familiar with the ad, it sparked a 753% lift in engagement.
Other brands that saw big engagement lifts were Bai and Buick. Bai, a brand that typically sees closer to 2,500 engagements a day, earned more than 133,000 engagements just during Super Bowl LI. Both Bai and Buick leveraged celebrity talent to their benefit. Buick’s ad featuring Cam Newton and Miranda Kerr drove a 91,269% lift in engagement immediately after the ad aired.
T-Mobile ensured it remained a part of the conversation in the second half of the game with its 4 ads. Engagement lift, at 2,445%, was highest for T-Mobile’s first ad with Justin Bieber and Rob Gronkowski, but viewers also responded to its Fifty Shades of Grey spoof with Kristen Schaal with the 4th ad achieving a 363% engagement lift.
Pepsi also made hay with its halftime activation. The beverage brand recorded more than 708,000 engagements during the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl underscores how important it is for brands to leverage the multi-screen consumer experience. Even during the event when people stay glued to their TVs throughout the commercial breaks, the second-screen draws heavy engagement. To score big, brands must orchestrate brand messaging across screens to create a compelling narrative and drive consumers down the purchase funnel.
