#NFL playoff games see millions of Tweets

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

The two #NFLplayoffs dominated this past weekend: Each game garnered millions of Tweets, according to the Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings (NTTR) from Nielsen SocialGuide (@Social_Guide).

The first game, between the @Patriots and the @Broncos on @CBSSports, attracted 2.5 million Tweets. The second game, between the @49ers and the @Seahawks on @FOXsports, saw a whopping 4.96 million Tweets.

These two games had the greatest Twitter TV reach since the NTTR began in September last year — ahead even of the Golden Globes.

Patriots v Broncos

The 2.5 million Tweets relating to this game were seen by 10.86 million people, and had 240.5 million impressions. Those Tweets were sent by 938,000 unique accounts. The live telecast also averaged 51.3 million viewers on CBS, up 22% from the early game a year ago between the @49ers and @Atlanta_Falcons. More than 132,000 Tweets used the hashtag #broncos.

Nielsen SocialGuide provides data on the number of unique Twitter accounts that tweeted about the show and the live reach of the program (impressions). Data is measured three hours before the first airing and three hours after the last airing of a show — and in the U.S. only.

The top five most-mentioned talent accounts during the game were:

  1. @Broncos
  2. @Patriots
  3. @NFLonFOX
  4. @ShannonSharpe
  5. @EricDecker87
Seahawks vs. 49ers

This game had 4.96 million Tweets seen by 11.38 million people, and 412.78 million impressions. Those Tweets were sent by 1.46 million unique authors. The game averaged 55.9 million viewers on Fox, up 17% from @Ravens v @Patriots in 2013. Nearly 163,000 Tweets used the hashtag #seahawks.

The top five most-mentioned talent accounts during the show:

  1. @RSherman_25
  2. @49ers
  3. @Seahawks
  4. @ErinAndrews
  5. @KingCrab15

For additional data that we released after the games, tracking the global conversation during the telecast and including the top-tweeted moments, here’s our post on the Official Twitter Blog.

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