Mobile Social Sharing Proves to be Big Winner During Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting events of the year. It’s not just a football game, but also a social event, with people getting together for a Sunday full of eating, chatting and sharing on top of watching the game. With that in mind, it makes sense that Facebook sees a lot of activity during the game, especially on mobile devices as people watch live. So what did this activity look like for Super Bowl XLIX? We took a look at our Marin Global Online Advertising Index to understand how consumers behaved this past Sunday.

When comparing Facebook activity during this past Super Bowl Sunday against prior Sundays in January, we saw some significant boost from that single day. Click-through rates for Facebook ads experienced a 9% lift during the Super Bowl, and cost-per-click experienced an astounding 55% jump, signaling the increased competitiveness during this event. After looking at Facebook conversion rates during the Super Bowl, this increased competitiveness makes sense. Conversion rates on Facebook mobile devices jumped 414% during the Super Bowl alone!

What this means for advertisers is that the Super Bowl is not just a social event offline, but online as well. People sharing and commenting on social media during the event translated into real sales and conversions. Successful marketers managed to leverage this in combination with the second-screen effect to increase brand interest, click-through and ultimately, conversions.