Conference title games draw #NFL faithful

Monday, 20 January 2014

What a Sunday for the @NFL! While fans spent the entire week cheering their teams on Twitter, the conversation really heated up once the live NFC and AFC championships began.

The AFC title game between the New England @Patriots and the Denver @Broncos saw two legendary quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Peyton Manning add to the lure of their all-time great rivalry. And the NFC title game featured fierce NFC West rivals in the San Francisco @49ers and Seattle @Seahawks battle for league supremacy.

With a trip to the @SuperBowl on the line, the roar of the crowd could be heard on Twitter during the live broadcast of the @Broncos 26-16 victory over the @Patriots:

The @Seahawks thrilling 23-17 win over the @49ers saw even more Tweets:

Fans who didn’t have a seat inside Denver’s @SportsAuthField piled onto Twitter to discuss the top plays, calls and moments of the AFC title game. This chart shows the moments that drove the most conversation:

As these moments unfolded on live TV, fans around the world tweeted about the top players in the game. Here are the most-mentioned star players during the AFC title game:

Seattle’s @CenturyLink_Fld is widely known as one of the loudest stadiums in all of professional sports. However, the conversation on Twitter was even more thunderous during these moments in the @Seahawks and @49ers game:

Here are the most-mentioned players during the NFC championship game:

For a detailed analysis of how the live television broadcast of both games performed on Twitter, the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating will be available Monday at 1pm EST here. This report includes data on the number of unique Twitter accounts that tweeted about the games (in the U.S.) and the live reach of the program (impressions).

Twitter buzzed with pre-game excitement and fans enjoyed unparalleled behind-the-scenes access:

The conversation heated up during and after the AFC championship:

The roar of the crowd was heard during the NFC championship as well:

Celebrities watching at home joined in the conversation, too:

With the teams now set for the @SuperBowl in two weeks, make sure to follow the @Broncos and @Seahawks and click here and here to follow players on each team as they prepare for the biggest game of the season.