Fans' Favorite Film Trailer of Super Bowl 50 Bourne Out By Social Media Data

Movie studios dropped tens of millions of dollars to run trailers for upcoming blockbusters during Super Bowl 50, but which ads got fans juiced and which left them flat? I checked in with social media analytics firm Canvs, a New York-based startup that combines machine learning and human linguistics expertise to derive meaning from the noisy world of Twitter .

According to Canvs’ analysis of tweets captured by Nielsen, super-spy Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) scored big on game day. Universal Pictures’ trailer for the latest installment in the series prompted 6,189 specific emotional reactions out of 17,547 tweets. The dominant emotional reaction? “EXCITED!” (47%). The spot also garnered the highest share of “Love” reactions of any ad, not just movie trailers, that ran during the game.

Fans were also feeling the love for the latest X-Men film from Twentieth Century Fox . X-Men: Apocalypse was mentioned in 16,575 tweets captured by Nielsen, with some form of “love” being expressed in 33% of them.

According to Canvs analysis of tweets captured by Nielsen, the trailer for the new live action Jungle Book from Walt Disney Pictures prompted 7,752 specific emotional reactions out of 20,014 tweets. Dominant reaction: Love (35.5%).

Paramount’s trailer for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows movie didn’t exactly light up Twitter, with 9,635 tweets captured by Nielsen. Of the 3,318 that expressed an emotional reaction, the prevalent sentiment was “excited” (25%). "Cowabunga" was probably in there too, but Canvs didn't mention it.

Rounding out the top five was Independence Day: Resurgence, also from Twentieth Century Fox, with 22.5% indicating excitement.

According to the company, movie trailers didn’t generate the overall volume of reaction of the biggest and most “loved” ads, but three of the five ads with the highest rate of love reactions were film trailers, suggesting concentrated fan attachment to those blockbuster franchises among those who had expressed an opinion.

How well will fan reaction to trailers correlate with box office success? It will be interesting to see if any clear patterns emerge when the films are released. Studios are already using these kinds of tools to tweak creative and marketing strategies. Now we might get some clear metrics on ROI for the biggest media expenditures of the year: Super Bowl ads.