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Sunday’s Food Consumption Second Only to Thanksgiving

January 30th, 2018

Advertisers aren’t the only ones spending big this weekend. American adults are expected to spend an average $81.17 for a total of $15.3 billion as an estimated 188.5 million people tune in to watch the New England Patriots vs the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl. That’s up 9% from last year.

A lot of that will be spent on food and drinks. Turns our we eat more food on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year except Thanksgiving. But unlike Thanksgiving, the weekend’s food fest leans more to classic junk food. Wings, pizza, chips, dips and beer are staples at most big game parties. Just during the game, it’s likely we’ll consume an average of 1,500 calories per person, nearly as much as we generally eat in an entire day.

According to the National Chicken Council, fans will consume 1.35 billion chicken wings during the upcoming Super Bowl weekend festivities. That’s 7+ wings for every single game viewer. On top of that, 52 million cases of beer are sold. According to Nielsen, more than $2.3 billion will be spent on alcohol. That’s probably why approximately 6% of Americans are expected to call in sick next Monday.

Beyond eating and drinking, what else do we do during the game? At the start, it’s all eyes on the TV. But according to a report from Burson-Marsteller, it’s not enough to just watch the game on TV. 64% of us engaged on social media at the same time (78% for millennials). Again this year, Facebook is the top choice to share content during the game with 53 percent saying it is their preferred social channel, followed by Instagram (22 percent), Twitter (20 percent), YouTube (17 percent) and Snapchat (16 percent).

The Number one online activity when turning to social channels during the game is 38% saying “sharing my thoughts about the commercials,” followed by 32% saying “reacting to the game,” 18% saying “sharing photos of my game-day party,” 10% saying “seeing what my network is doing,” And 2% saying “sharing strategy about the game.”

This year, Twitter wants to lead social, and has created #BrandBowl, a subscription for users to get TV spots delivered to them on Twitter. They are calling it a place for advertisers and users to congregate and discuss the Super Bowl. They will not only curate Super Bowl ads, the #BrandBowl will also hand out awards for ads—including brands who don’t advertise during the game—that drive the most Twitter engagement.

With a cost of more than $5 million for a :30 spot, social media plays large role in most advertiser’s plans to make the most of their spend/efforts. Kraft is planning to build their Super Bowl ad in near real-time on game day using images of families that share their game-day activities photos on social media. Many other advertising are either running teasers or previewing their spots this week on social media to build momentum or gain even more exposure and engagement. So by Sunday, many of us will have already seen the commercials.

However, come Monday, there are sure to be a lot of arm chair quarterbacks —  not only for the game, but also the ads and our course the food.

Me…I’m looking forward to some good wings.

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