Summary: While watching the Super Bowl, I realized that the year’s biggest television event is not what it once was. Don’t get me wrong: the game was exciting, the commercials were funny and the presentation was top notch. What’s different is us. Surveys estimated that 36 percent of us used a second screen last night while watching the game. We also used those screens leading up to the game, too, to watch all the ads that these companies paying $4 million for 30 seconds of screentime have made. YouTube said that Super Bowl commercials posted online before the game get 600 percent more views. Keeping your commercial a secret until kickoff builds excitement, but it’s hard to argue with those extra viewers. CBS streamed the entire game, commercials and all, on its site, and NFL Gamepass did the same for customers outside the country. As we move into future Super Bowls, it’s hard to imagine these trends will stop: even sports can’t escape technology’s long reach.
