The Super Bowl was one of the key sporting events of 2014 and saw more than 110 million viewers tuning in to watch the Seattle Seahawks hammer the Denver Broncos – making this year’s Super Bowl reportedly the most-watched television show in US history, according to a FOX Sports press release.
In this most recent Insight we look at who people were with whilst they watched the game, how they were feeling whilst watching it and whether they stayed tuned in until the end.
Who were people with?
Whilst it’s not surprising that Fox had overwhelmingly the highest number of viewers of this year’s Super Bowl, what is perhaps illuminating is that almost 70% of total viewers of this year’s game watched the Super Bowl either on their own or with their partner. Is this perhaps indicative of the growth of social media, signifying that people feel more connected to their friends via social networking, rather than through gathering together in groups to watch such key events?
How were people feeling throughout the game?
Our Insight shows that, during the first half of the game, the proportion of positive and strong positive moods was high, with both teams still having everything to play for. But after the half time show, at which point it became clear there was only ever going to be one clear winner, the relative amount of respondents showing negative moods increased. It’s certainly true to say that the score definitely had an effect on people’s moods.
Did people watch until the end?
The Super Bowl had the highest audience from our respondents between 19.00 and 19.30 hours but the half time show saw a lot of people change channel. From 21.00 hours onwards, by which point the result was pretty much guaranteed, people had switched off to watch TV drama. This is also when the highest percentage of people said they were bored.
What conclusion can we draw?
Determining moods in relation to the scores of major sporting events could add a valuable level of customisation to advertisers. If games are more even, and therefore more exciting, the audience is more likely to be in a positive frame of mind and should be catered to by advertisers in that way.
This information also brings into question the value of advertising in one sided games. Those final Super Bowl advertising slots were not hitting their reach as audiences switched over when the outcome was decided.
Data based on 110 US respondents, with half hourly survey data being captured on respondents’ mobiles. The study took place between 31/01/2014 and 03/02/2014 with the above data based on answers provided between 18.00 and 23.00 hours on 02/02/2014. RealityMine used mobile passive monitoring tools to monitor patterns.
