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Who's Winning The Super Bowl Ad Battle? Live Blogging The Big Game With Real Time Data

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Against the backdrop of Super Bowl 50, some of the world's top brands are angling to impress live television's largest audience of the year with their most dynamic and creative commercial spots. How are they doing? I'll be using real-time metrics from iSpot.tv, a Bellevue, Washington-based firm that tracks engagement across multiple media channels, to score reach and sentiment as the game develops.

Keep checking back - I'll be updating frequently (Most recent post is at top of list).

Final Update - 10:30: Congratulations to the Denver Broncos for a hard-won victory. I doubt this Super Bowl will go down in history as a classic game, but it was close throughout and probably enough to keep casual fans engaged, if only to see if Manning would end his career on top. We'll have the final tally of all these metrics tomorrow, plus a couple more features that dig deeper into questions like what movie preview people liked best (and why).

Let me give a final thanks and shout-out to the good folks at iSpot.tv, who have been furnishing the metrics that I've been blogging all night through their very intuitive website. As I wrote earlier today, these kinds of metrics are helping marketers solve some of the enduring mysteries of media value and helping brands better understand the connections between paid and earned engagement in the social era. Certainly this type of real-time analysis and discussion would not have been possible even a year or two ago, and now, it's hard to imagine talking about these issues without it.

Check back tomorrow for the final score!

Update 14 - 10:17: As the game winds down and Denver appears poised to salt away the win as a going-away present to Peyton Manning, one brand is sitting on a fairly comfortable lead in Facebook impressions. That would be Budweiser, who's "Give a Damn" spot featuring Helen Miren has tallied more than 3.5 million views. That's about half a million more than #2 Hyundai ("The Chase) and 900K better than #3 T-Mobile ("Restricted Bling," which just aired in the last 20 minutes).

Update 13 - 10:00. Earlier I mentioned the Audi "Commander" spot, featuring David Bowie's "Starman." That spot is now sitting atop the Sentiment rankings with a 99% positive score on a fairly hefty 34 million social impressions, 2.4M online views, and a 2.72% brand share of voice (SOV has tightened up considerably as the evening has worn on). What's more, the spot is landing exactly in the sweet spot for Audi's brand and customers: 55% male, 26% in the well-established 35-44 age bracket. Whatever Audi paid for the rights to ride the outpouring of affection for the late Mr. Bowie looks like it was worth it.

Update 12 - 9:40. Quick reminder that I'll be following up tomorrow with additional analytics, including some very cool deep sentiment analytics from Canvs.tv. One of the things I'll be looking at is "most awkward spots." I think we saw one a little bit ago with Valeant's deeply unfortunate Xifazan commercial, which features what could be charitably interpreted as a talking bundle of intestines. Between that and Astra Zenica's OIC (Opiod induced constitpation) relief product, SB50 is shaping up to be the... no, I won't go there.

Update 11: 9:19 - Did I say 10.9% for Esurance? Make that 11.14% as of the last refresh (these stats are real-time and changing constantly). Big takeaway: give people the chance to make money and they will become your brand ambassadors.

Meantime, another big superhero franchise film has made its appearance, this time Fox's upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse. Remember when comic fans and sports fans pretty much stood on opposite sides of the room at parties? Now, according to our finest media minds, they are one and the same.

Update 10 - 9:10. Is it possible to manufacture engagement with a contest that asks customers to tweet and retweet brand messages? Apparently so, especially if you stoke the fire with a spot that runs just after the Super Bowl kickoff. Esurance's "Pass It On Sweepstakes" has generated nearly 100K social actions and nearly 34 million social impressions, leading to a 10.9% share of voice (#3 SOV overall).

Halftime Update: 8:50. Although no team has dominated on the field in the Big Game so far, Hyundai's "First Date" spot has held a commanding lead in social media traffic since it debuted last week, propelling Hyundai to a commanding 20% brand share of voice leading into the Super Bowl. But, shocker... there's now a new name at the top of the leader board.

Mountain Dew's "PuppyMonkeyBaby" spot, which began airing just yesterday, vaulted into the #1 Engagement slot according to iSpot.tv, garnering a commanding 126,591,972 social impressions, nearly 2.2M online views and over 111,000 social actions (shares, likes, etc.), grabbing at 12.8% share of voice and dropping Hyundai into second.

Update 8 - 8:06:  Coca-Cola just sent a little love to Marvel fans with a great co-branded spot featuring the Hulk and Ant-Man. Not sure when we'll be seeing the jolly green giant next on the big screen, but it's fun to see him turn up in a Super Bowl spot.

Update 7 - 7:57: The game itself is shaping up to be pretty competitive, which bodes well for audience retention after the halftime.

Just checking on some preliminary social scores for spots that ran during the first half. The Fabreze commercial with the young guys whose room smells like old socks ("Does Your Bedroom Smell") is stinking up the joint with a relatively low 62% positive sentiment, though it's still a small sample.

Update 6 - 7:38. The preview of the Skittles spot with Steven Tyler got pretty good traction with 2.3 million online views. 60% of the social mentions came from females, with most between ages 45-54.

Update 5 - 7:18. Did you enjoy the Shock Top beer spot that aired during the past break? It's getting raves from guys 18-24, with a 96% overall positive sentiment, split 56/44% male, and nearly 20% in the 18-24 age group. You can see the funnier extended cut below.

Update 4 - 7:02. A couple of the early favorites from previews just aired, including an abbreviated Mexico Avocado's "AVOS from Space" (missing the punchline) and Doritos' "Ultrasound." We also got a good-looking trailer from Disney's upcoming live-action Jungle Book movie. But Audi has stolen the show with "Commander," featuring a nostalgic astronaut and a stirring musical cue from the recently-deceased David Bowie.

Update 3 - 6:27: One of the big trends we'll be watching tomorrow is how well the trailers for the big blockbuster franchise films landed with fans. The pre-game block featured a special spot for Marvel's Deadpool (from 20th Century Fox), which opens next week, and what looked like a new trailer for Captain America: Civil War (Marvel), coming in April. Look for plenty of exposure for Batman vs. Superman as well. Fans will be poring over these for clues and spolers for weeks to come.

Update 2 - 5:50: A bunch of Super Bowl 50 spots have been running in preview for the past few days. Some of the most liked in terms of social sentiment are:

  • "AVOS from Space" (Avodados from Mexico): 99% positive
  • GoPro "Big Game Montage" 98% positive
  • Honda "New Truck to Love": 98% positive
  • Axe: "Find Your Magic": 97% positive
  • Pepsi : Camp Halftime Episode 1: 97% positive

Audiences are not feeling the love for:

  • Marmot: "Meet the Marmot - Campfire": 40% positive
  • Machine Zone: "Teaser - Mobile Strike - Arnold's Fight": 52% positive
  • Quicken Loans: "What Were We Thinking?": 54% positive

Update 1 - 5:15 pm: We're still more than an hour from kickoff, but pregame sponsor Turkish Airlines has already rolled out a spot that's likely to be one of the more talked-about of the day: a clever co-branded tie-in with the upcoming Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie. Care to visit beautiful Metropolis, city of tomorrow? Or perhaps a visit to Gotham City will yield a glimpse of the burgh's most famous resident.

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