SOASTA Super Bowl Survey: Facebook, Twitter to Dominate Second Screens During Super Bowl

Nearly half of smartphone/tablet owners will use apps while watching the game;

1 in 3 will visit social media networks

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--()--SOASTA, the leader in performance analytics, today announced the results of its 2015 Super Bowl Second Screen survey, examining online and mobile habits and preferences of Americans watching this year’s Super Bowl. The research revealed that nearly half (46 percent) of smartphone and tablet owners plan on using mobile apps while watching this year’s Super Bowl, an increase from the 41 percent who said they planned to use mobile apps while watching the game in 2014.

SOASTA commissioned the Super Bowl Second Screen Study to raise awareness around the peak traffic and high download rates expected during the U.S.’s most watched sporting event of the year. The survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of SOASTA from Jan. 21-23, 2015 among 2,057 adults, 1,496 of which own smartphones or tablets.

One-third (32 percent) of smartphone/tablet owners say they will use social media apps like Facebook and Twitter, followed by sports apps like ESPN and Sports Illustrated (20 percent) and games such as Candy Crush Saga and Trivia Crack (19 percent).

SOASTA’s study discovered that the vast majority of millennial men (84 percent) and women (56 percent) expect to use apps to multi-task on their smartphones and tablets while watching the big game. Men ages 18-34 are more likely than their older counterparts to use video apps like YouTube and Vine (47 percent), food delivery apps like Grub Hub and Seamless (28 percent) and dating apps like Tinder and OK Cupid (14 percent).

Additional app categories expected to be widely used by Americans watching this year’s Super Bowl include:

  • Video (18 percent)
  • Weather (17 percent)
  • News (15 percent)
  • Food delivery (9 percent)
  • Music identification (8 percent)
  • Fantasy football (6 percent)
  • Sports memorabilia (4 percent)
  • Gambling (4 percent)
  • Dating (3 percent)

According to the new research, nearly two out of three (63 percent) smartphone and tablet users who plan on watching the Super Bowl said online and mobile activities will be critical to their experience watching the Super Bowl. More than one-third (35 percent) said that using social media apps and websites would be among the most critical online or mobile activity during the game; 31 percent said that following the game and 22 percent said that ordering food would be among the most important online or mobile activity. Other online and mobile activities that were deemed critical for Sunday’s matchup include:

  • Watching the game’s musical performances and ads (21 percent)
  • Tracking game and player statistics (19 percent)
  • Visiting team websites (11 percent)
  • Playing games (11 percent)
  • Checking work email (10 percent)
  • Recording the game (8 percent)
  • Tracking fantasy football (7 percent)
  • Buying sports memorabilia or apparel (6 percent)

“It’s the two minute warning for companies to optimize their web and mobile performance for the Super Bowl,” said Tom Lounibos, CEO of SOASTA. “Millions of fans will be going online during the game to watch a live stream, keep up with scores and share the game’s best ads on social networks, all with the expectation of a great user experience. Our research shows that consumers will avoid poorly performing websites and apps, so it’s critical for advertisers, retailers and online sites to continually test and monitor their apps to ensure optimal performance before, during and after the Super Bowl.”

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of SOASTA from Jan. 21-23, 2015, among 2,057 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Sara Black at sara.black@grayling.com

About SOASTA:

SOASTA is the leader in performance analytics. The SOASTA platform enables digital business owners to gain unprecedented and continuous performance insights into their real user experience on mobile and Web devices – in real time, and at scale. With more than 10 million tests performed and more than 100 billion user experiences measured, SOASTA is the digital performance expert trusted by industry-leading companies including Experian, Gilt Groupe, Hallmark, Intuit, Microsoft and Netflix. SOASTA is privately held and headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. For more information about SOASTA, please visit http://www.soasta.com.

SOASTA is a registered trademark of SOASTA, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Other product or company names mentioned may be trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

Contacts

Grayling
Sara Black, 213-618-1501
Sara.black@grayling.com

Release Summary

Facebook and Twitter Dominate Second Screens During Super Bowl XLIX According to a SOASTA survey

Contacts

Grayling
Sara Black, 213-618-1501
Sara.black@grayling.com