February 12, 2014April 18, 2015 by Mandy Edwards

Twitter + Sporting Events = Love

When it comes to television shows and events, the producers are always looking for ways to enhance the user experience. Whether it be in-person things or online, they are looking to have a memorable experience that will keep people talking.

Welcome Twitter!

Twitter is becoming a popular choice to accompany those events. Real time conversations and instant feedback allow the users and the event producers to really get involved. Television shows are displaying hashtags during their shows encouraging viewers to interact live. Sporting events are creating hashtags as well. From college sports to professional events, Twitter is becoming a norm for those wanting to participate.

Case in point – Super Bowl 48.

I was active on the #sb48 and #adbowl conversations on Twitter. To be honest, the game was a blow-out and boring but the real action was on Twitter. From jokes about Peyton Manning and the Broncos to critiquing the Super Bowl ads, it was far from being a snoozefest.

Facts about Twitter & Super Bowl 48 –

24.9 million total Tweets about the Super Bowl (up from 24.1 million the year prior).

Tweets peaked at the time Richard Sherman returned the second half opening kickoff for a touchdown with 381,000 tweets per minute.

There were 583,152 tweets about Super Bowl ads.

Budweiser was the most discussed advertiser while Go Daddy was the most engaged (they even tweeted ME back!)

Insights from Mass Relevance, as reported by Forbes, indicate that brands overwhelmingly chose Twitter over Facebook and Instagram for their real-time marketing around the game.

There was obviously a tremendous amount of activity on Twitter: conversation about the Super Bowl (including the game, halftime show, and brands) reached 25.3 million tweets by 5.6 million authors, equating to 1.8 billion impressions and a unique audience of 15.3 million accounts.

As you can see, Twitter was HUGE during the Super Bowl. Media outlets, individuals, other athletes and brands took advantage of this captive audience to engage and promote.

Of course, there was JC Penney who tried too hard (in my opinion) with their #tweetingwithmittens campaign. It did get people talking, but not in a good way.

With the constant evolution of social media, you will see Twitter get more share of the events & experience part of the pie. The platform provides a quick, easy way for people to come together to share an experience. For me personally, I love using Twitter while attending or watching a sporting event. It gives a whole new perspective to what is going on, and it’s all for the better.

Let me ask you – do you use Twitter while attending or watching a sporting event? If so, what do you love most about it?

Sources:

www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/super-bowl-xlviii-twitter_b54749 blog.twitter.com/2014/celebrating-sb48-on-twitter www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/super-bowl-ad-winners_b54770 www.marketingcharts.com/wp/traditional/super-bowl-2014-ads-facts-and-figures-39421/