Nick Foles, Tom Brady and commericals were also heavily discussed on Twitter and Facebook.
The Philadelphia Eagles battled the New England Patriots on the field during Sunday’s Super Bowl 52, and the night’s top social media moments centered around the final win, game-changing plays and Justin Timberlake’s halftime performance.
On Twitter, the night’s biggest moment was the Eagles’ surprising victory against the Patriots (41-33). Though the game was a tight race until the end, online conversation also revolved around two shocking plays that led to the Eagles win. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s fumble recovered by Derek Barnett for the Eagles and Zach Ertz’s touchdown that gave the Eagles a 38-33 lead against New England were heavily mentioned.
Eagles quarterback Nick Foles was the most-tweeted-about football player of the night, followed by Eagles wide receiver Alshon Jeffrey and Eagles tight end Ertz. From the opposing team, Brady, tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Brandin Cooks were also the most discussed players on Twitter.
Though the night was dedicated to the play on the field, Timberlake’s halftime performance also garnered attention on Twitter. The performance’s most-tweeted moments included his selfie with a young fan in the audience, singing “Until the End of Time” alongside a projection of Prince and the singer performing his hit “Suit and Tie” with a marching band.
Twitter also announced its first-ever #BrandBowl, where it honored the best-in-class Super Bowl campaigns as seen on the social media platform. The brand with the highest percentage of all brand-related tweets went to Pepsi, which was named the site’s MVP. Following their football categories, Twitter dubbed Mountain Dew and Doritos as its Blitz for driving the highest velocity of most tweets per minute. The night’s “quarterback” went to Jurassic Park, with the new trailer generating the most retweets. The interactive game brand Ally also drove the highest percentage of brand conversation, being dubbed as Twitter’s “interception.”
On Facebook, there were more than 270 million interactions related to Super Bowl content. About 90 percent of Facebook interactions were via mobile devices.
Similar to Twitter, the most-discussed NFL players of the night included Brady and Foles, followed by Carson Wentz, Cooks and Ertz. The top moment discussed on Facebook was dedicated to the Eagles’ win, followed by Timberlake’s Prince tribute and Brady and Gronkowski’s five-yard touchdown in the game’s third quarter.
The most-viewed video on Facebook was the commercial showcasing Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. re-creating a scene from Dirty Dancing.
Over on YouTube, the new class of Super Bowl commercials received a high amount of views, with the top advertisements including the star-studded Alexa ad, Tiffany Haddish’s Groupon spot and Pepsi’s Generations ad.
Timberlake achieved a 500 percent spike in views on YouTube, with his music gaining more than 500,000 views per hour in the U.S. during the game. His most-viewed videos included his “Say Something,” “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” and “Man of the Woods” music videos.
