Instart Logic Predicts Online Activity Will Surge With Key Brands During Super Bowl LII
PALO ALTO, Calif. – Instart Logic, the company helping hundreds of leading brands around the world deliver a faster, safer and more profitable online experience, announced the results of its Super Bowl LII Study of more than 1,000 American adults.
“We predict that Super Bowl LII will have the most online activity going on concurrently with the game in Super Bowl history”
The most surprising finding was that once the Patriots and the Eagles hit the field, the most popular and anticipated online activity during the game is watching advertisements. Nearly half of Americans (46.7 percent) ranked it as the most important activity during the game, followed by ordering food (28.2 percent), keeping up with the stats (25.1 percent), watching the game live-streamed (19.9 percent), supporting the team on social media (16.0 percent), or talking trash on social networks (10.9 percent). Another 3.8 percent of Americans admitted they would check out online gambling sites during the game.
The power of Super Bowl commercials is so strong that 87.2 percent of Americans admitted that commercials had affected them during the game. The most likely outcome was that sports fans would go online to visit a company’s main website. In fact, Americans were almost twice as likely to visit a company’s main website than the mobile version. Americans also say Super Bowl ads were responsible for making them attend Super Bowl parties, order fast food and drink beer. A small minority (5.5 percent) said Super Bowl ads made them get into shape.
When Instart Logic examined American opinions by politician affiliation, the company discovered:
- Republicans care about Super Bowl ads more than any other political group
- Democrats, however, are more likely to act on Super Bowl ads
- When asked about annoying online advertising, undecided voters were the least forgiving of the number of advertisements on websites, while Democrats were the most understanding
- Outside of the Super Bowl, Democrats found the most annoying ads on Fox News, while Republicans found the most annoying ads on CNN, with MSNBC a close second
Age also played into how people responded. For example, while watching the advertisements was the number one activity among all age groups, it was the most important to men — and seemed to get more important the older they became. Meanwhile, millennials cared more about ordering food online during the game than any age group. Millennials also reported being more likely to be affected by commercials and more likely to take action during the game itself. The older viewers became, the less likely they were to act in a way that was favorable to the advertisers.
But when people go online to visit websites or mobile apps during the Super Bowl, advertisers should be careful in their approach. A vast majority (85.4 percent) of Americans find some types of ads annoying. The worst type of ad was the pop-up that appears when you’re trying to watch a video. That was closely followed by ads that obstruct the screen when you’re trying to read a news article and pop-up videos with sound. Nearly half of Americans (42.7 percent) believe these ads slow a web or mobile site’s performance, with 40.7 percent believing these ads actually crash the site.
Americans seem to be annoyed with the number of advertisements on any site. When participants were asked how many ads on a website are too many, the most popular choice was one advertisement (23.1 percent). One in five Americans (20.8 percent) believe two ads are too many, while a slightly larger group (21.6 percent) thinks that three ads are too much. One in ten Americans believe four or five advertisements are too many.
A large majority of Americans (83.6 percent) believes all websites have annoying advertising experiences, with social media (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn) having the worst ad experiences. Retail sites were considered the second most annoying home for ads, followed by national news, local news and, finally, porn sites. When asked which news site had the most annoying ad content, CNN was ranked number one, followed by Fox News and ESPN.
Most Americans (89.7 percent) believe the problem of bad advertising can be fixed. Their number one solution: cut down on the number of pop-up ads. A majority of Americans (57 percent) said they want pop-up ads reduced. A majority of Americans also want to cut down on the number of ads and not have their screens obstructed when they are trying to watch something. Over a third of Americans (36.2 percent) think advertisements should be made less obnoxious, and a nearly similar percentage (33.2 percent) recommends that advertisers make video ads silent at first if they are going to play pop-up video.
“We predict that Super Bowl LII will have the most online activity going on concurrently with the game in Super Bowl history,” said Manav Mital, CEO of Instart Logic. “At Instart Logic we help media, advertisers and brands get ready and provide the best consumer experiences for big events like the Super Bowl. That’s when they are most likely to see huge spikes in traffic and revenue. The challenge is to be ready with fast performance, amazing content and relevant advertisements that engage and delight audiences as opposed to repelling them.”
Survey Methodology
The survey was conducted online by Propeller Insights on behalf of Instart Logic January 16th-19th, 2017, among 1,117 adults 18+ weighted to the U.S, census for age, gender, region and ethnicity.
About Instart Logic
Instart Logic helps hundreds of leading brands around the world deliver a faster, safer and more profitable online experience through its revolutionary digital experience management platform. Instart Logic’s platform combines machine learning, application and device awareness, and open APIs with a broad suite of integrated and automated capabilities including cloud, web and mobile application performance optimization, image optimization, digital advertising and marketing analytics recovery, web application firewall, DDOS protection, bot management, and a next-generation content delivery network. Using Instart Logic, enterprises can provide ultra-fast, visually immersive and secure experiences on any device to maximize revenue, deliver superior customer experiences, and gain competitive advantage. Learn more at https://www.instartlogic.com or follow us on Twitter at @InstartLogic.
