Super Bowl Breaks Social TV and Broadcast Records

Super Bowl XLVI was not only a big hit with broadcast viewers, it also excelled in the social TV space.

Hollywood news site Deadline reports that 111.3 million Americans tuned in to watch the New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots. That puts Super Bowl XLVI just ahead of last year's record breaking broadcast, making the 2012 Super Bowl the most-watched U.S. TV broadcast ever.

Of course, the Super Bowl didn't just do well in TV ratings. It dominated the social conversations on Twitter, Facebook and social checkin services like GetGlue.

According to social TV analytics firm Bluefin Labs, Super Bowl XLVI was the biggest social TV event on record, surpassing the 2011 MTV VMAs in terms of social media comments.

Bluefin's data shows that the Super Bowl generated 12.2 million social media comments, up 600% from 2011?s 1.8 million comments. However, we should note that Bluefin's reporting data in 2011 was not as robust as it is now, which may account for the disparity in numbers.

According to Alex Iskold, founder and CEO of GetGlue, more than 150,000 users checked-in to the Super Bowl on GetGlue, three-times more than any previous event.

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Halftime Show Soars

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Although the game itself generated tons of social comments, the halftime show was also hugely social. Not only was Madonna the most searched term on Google, the halftime show generated 862,000 social comments according to Bluefin.

To put that figure in perspective, Bluefin estimates that the 2011 Academy Awards generated 966,000 comments. Additionally, if counted as its own program, the Madonna's halftime show would rank fourth in terms of social TV entertainment events, ahead of the 2011 BET Awards.

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The Ads

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It was a big year for Super Bowl ads, with lots of companies choosing to preview or premiere their ads online before the big game.

Honda's CR-V ad featuring Ferris Bueller himself (Matthew Broderick) was the most-buzzed about ad according to Zeta. The Honda spot also took the the title of "best ad" in Hulu's Adzone 2012.

Other popular spots included Volkswagen's "The Bark Side" teaser and "The Dog Strikes Back."

When it comes to social media commentary, Bluefin ranks H&M's "Bodywear for H&M" featuring David Beckahm as the ad with the most social media comments.

It was followed by Chrysler's outstanding, "Halftime in America" spot featuring Clint Eastwood. Bluefin ranked the Chrysler spot as number one among sports fans.

Did you find yourself more socially engaged while watching the Super Bowl this year? Let us know in the comments.