The game is over, the confetti has descended, and #RavensNation is celebrating their big victory. During the Sunday matchup between the @ravens and @49ers, the roar of the crowd was comprised of 24.1 million Tweets about the game and halftime show (this leaves aside the ads, about which more below). By the beginning of the second half, the volume of Tweets had already surpassed last year’s Tweet total.
The moments generating the biggest peaks of Twitter conversation (measured in Tweets per minute, or TPM) during the game:
Tonight’s most mentioned players were (in order): Ray Lewis (@Raylewis), Joe Flacco (@teamflacco), Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) and Jacoby Jones.
Whether they were inside the stadium or glued to screens elsewhere, athletes and commentators tweeted out their thoughts during the game’s big moments.
Wow on the return to start 2nd half and Wow on the damn lights! Lets see if this changes the momentum
— Kobe Bryant ( @kobebryant) February 4, 2013
49ers need an interception.
— Skip Bayless ( @RealSkipBayless) February 4, 2013
That’s A Bad Call. A kicker trying 2 Get 9yds #childplease #SuperBowl
— Leon Washington ( @Leon_Washington) February 4, 2013
Something that’s very clear if you’re at this game - the Ravens can’t cover Vernon Davis. He’s open every time.
— Bill Simmons ( @BillSimmons) February 4, 2013
The other superstar on the field tonight was @Beyonce. Her halftime performance lit up Twitter (did it affect the Superdome power grid, we wonder?), generating 5.5 million Tweets. Fans’ favorites reflected by Tweet volume:
A few Tweets that flew about @Beyonce’s energetic performance:
Watching the #SuperBowl with family & friends. @ beyonce was phenomenal! I am so proud of her! -mo
— FLOTUS ( @FLOTUS) February 4, 2013
Probably the best half time show I’ve ever seen!! Get it @ beyonce !!!! #DestinysChild HOLY COW! #SB47
— Shawn Johnson ( @ShawnJohnson) February 4, 2013
. @ beyonce was so bootylicious that she knocked the power out at the #SuperBowl -ck
— Lady Antebellum ( @ladyantebellum) February 4, 2013
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Super Bowl without conversation-starting ads — some planned, and others that emerged in real time. Of the national broadcast ads that aired during the game, approximately half had a hashtag included in them, up from one in five last year.
The biggest surprise of the game was the 33:55 power outage that halted the Superdome action. And during that hiatus, Twitter was most definitely on. Several parody accounts (e.g. @superbowllights) popped up to provide some comedic relief as anticipation built.
Turn out the lights….. twitter.com/davidgregory/s…
— David Gregory ( @davidgregory) February 4, 2013
Lights out!!! Any questions??
— Mr. Carter ( @S_C_) February 4, 2013
All the lights are out!! It’s pandemonium!! Thank god we have out Beyonce finger lights! twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/st…
— Neil Patrick Harris ( @ActuallyNPH) February 4, 2013
What people don’t talk about is how the lights were on for the entire first half.. #smh #SuperBowl
— Superdome Light Crew ( @superbowlights) February 4, 2013
Additionally, the half-hour-plus downtime gave brands on Twitter a chance to showcase humor, creativity… and abs.
Power out? No problem. twitter.com/Oreo/status/29…
— Oreo Cookie ( @Oreo) February 4, 2013
We can’t get your #blackout, but we can get your stains out. #SuperBowl #TidePower twitter.com/tide/status/29…
— Tide ( @tide) February 4, 2013
This might be a good time think about alternative programming. #SuperBowlBlackOut #WeHaveDowntonPBS
— PBS ( @PBS) February 4, 2013
Since the lights are still out… vine.co/v/b1iiiiUz5uq #SB47
— Calvin Klein ( @CalvinKlein) February 4, 2013
Illustrating just how fast advertisers moved in: it took just four minutes for the first Promoted Tweet to appear against searches for [power outage] on Twitter. We’ll have more stats about the ads that ran during #sb47, including the results of our #AdScrimmage, later this week on the Twitter Advertising Blog.
Meanwhile, over at the #PuppyBowl, where fans were heartily rooting heartily for Butterscotch or Copper, there were about 500,000 Tweets — including a perhaps unsurprising uptick during the Big Game’s power outage.
Posted by Omid Ashtari (@omid)
Head of Sports & Entertainment
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