Super Bowl: No Blackout, Yet Another Twitter Record

Last year’s Super Bowl set the record for tweets, with 24.1 million tweets out on the social network over the course of the game. Many attributed that to the infamous blackout, and the several real-time marketing campaigns that ensued. However, that hypothesis seems to be undone as Super Bowl XLVIII generated 24.9 million tweets, while no culturally significant “event” occurred during the game. The highest peak was Percy Harvin’s 87-yard kickoff return in the third quarter, which generated 381,605 Tweets Per Minute; another high point was the halftime show. Another trend: ads featuring hashtags. This year, 58% of all ads during the game had affiliated hashtags, up from 50% last year. The data on advertisement engagement is still out, but it’s clear that Twitter remains the number one social network for the Super Bowl, and is indeed solidifying its position.