Just a few days ago, the Super Bowl LVII was won by the Kansas City Chiefs in their game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The spectacle was followed by millions, creating excitement weeks before the Super Bowl itself. How did Super Bowl LVII affect the activity of Twitch chatters? Which teams, brands, and players were discussed the most? Find out in our analysis below.
Super Bowl LVII in numbers
The Super Bowl LVII saw near-historic viewership. Nearly 88,000 fans were in the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, to watch the highlight of the 2022 NFL season. On top of that, FOX Sports reported that 113 million viewers tuned in from their TV, making it the third-most watched television show of all time. The NFL adds that it also became the second-highest-ranking Super Bowl. Only the Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 was more popular, with 114 million viewers.
But the Super Bowl LVII set records in other areas, too. According to the NFL, with a score of 38-35, it was one of the highest-scoring games in Super Bowl history. Similarly, Super Bowl TV commercials reached a new pricing high. Advertisers had to pay an average of $7 million for a 30-second commercial. In comparison, the average price was $5.6 million in 2020, as stated by Statista. Finally, the Super Bowl LVII brought upon a new football legend: Kansas City Chiefs’ player Patrick Mahomes became the first player this century to win MVP and a Super Bowl in the same season.
Chat activity around Super Bowl LVII
Throughout the 30 days before the Super Bowl LVII, Twitch chat mentions of the event and its two participating teams stayed relatively even. Interestingly, all spiked on January 30, when Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs reached about 21,000 chat mentions. This can be attributed to the NFL match result from the previous day. On January 29, both teams qualified for the Super Bowl. Eagles qualified after their victory against the San Francisco 49ers. Chiefs followed shortly after that by overtaking the Cincinnati Bengals. It's unsurprising that chat mentions skyrocketed as the event drew closer. Mentions of the Super Bowl peaked at over 52,000 on February 12, whereas the Chiefs and Eagles reached their high at 39,000 and 45,000 one day later.
The chat mentions of the brands featured during the Super Bowl commercials are also noteworthy. As these ads have become more than mere marketing and turned into entertaining content for fans, we’ve analyzed chat mentions of this year’s advertisers on February 12 and 13. At the very top is soft drink manufacturer Pepsi with their Pepsi Zero Sugar commercial. 5,500 messages mentioned the brand. Doritos is in second place, albeit with nearly half of Pepsi’s chat mentions. Still, its commercial was celebrated among Super Bowl viewers for its creative storyline, starring musicians Jack Harlow, Missy Elliot, and Elton John. In the ad, Harlow gains musical inspiration from the shape of a Dorito and starts a triangle lifestyle revolution, only to be met with a plot twist in the end. Pringles also showed how creativity can entertain millions. Their commercial with Meghan Trainor focused on the brand’s unique packaging, telling the stories of all those Pringles fans that get stuck in. The brand was therefore mentioned more than 2,000 times across Twitch chats.
Although this year’s Super Bowl was yet another highlight in a series of legendary NFL finals, some have begun comparing its legacy to that of the FIFA World Cup. These voices argue that the World Cup is loved by soccer fans worldwide, while the Super Bowl is mostly a US-American phenomenon. In our comparison between Super Bowl LVII legend Patrick Mahomes and FIFA World Cup 2022 star Lionel Messi, Messi emerges as the clear winner. While Mahomes was mentioned in 17,000 messages from 10,000 unique chatters during the Super Bowl, Messi reached ten times as many chat mentions during the World Cup final.
Still, the NFL event can be a significant publicity boost. Rihanna’s celebrated Half Time Show is yet another proof of this. The singer and business owner received massive praise for her performance, including hits such as Umbrella and Diamonds. Her feature in the Super Bowl LVII also impacted her relevance on Twitch. On February 12 and 13, more than 24,000 unique chatters talked about the star.
Teams, players, brands, and idols have provided excellent entertainment, leaving their mark in the minds of NFL fans. With another Super Bowl behind us, the football hype is slowly calming down. We’ll have to wait until next year to find out whether the following Super Bowler will become even bigger.