This year’s final game between Denver and Seattle had the largest television audience (112 million) of all time. Advertising brands jumped on the opportunity and exhibited digital savvy absent the year before. More than 75% of ads presented a digital call to action, and hashtags replaced URLs as brands looked for ways to extend game time conversation online.
Genius in L2’s Digital IQ Index®: Beer Budweiser rose to the top of all 55 advertising brands in creativity and across a range of metrics. #BestBuds was tweeted 59.1 million times during the game, more than any other brand hashtag. The Puppy Love video had the most YouTube shares (1.3 million) and views (49.8 million) of all Super Bowl videos. Sister brand Bud Light came in second among Beer brands with 18.1 million views for its main video.
This year, brands that bought a Super Bowl ad saw a 16.8% increase in YouTube views and a 2.4% increase in Twitter follower during a two-week period, making a case for Super Bowl ads with digital follow-through.