Super Bowl XLIX aired on Feb. 1, and with it, 56 Super Bowl ads.
Each 30-second spot cost an average $4.5 million, up from $4 million in 2014. And while viewership numbers aren't out yet for 2015, last year's Super Bowl wrangled more eyes than the Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe awards combined.
While we love a roundup of "best and worst Super Bowl ads," beyond entertainment, there's a whole other side of the Super Bowl ad game. It tells us something about the advertisers - where are companies investing their money in 2015? How will they try to reach consumers?
In other words, here's where the ad profits are for investors...
Super Bowl Ads 2015: Three Investing Trends Revealed
No. 1: Mobile Rules in 2015
Super Bowl ads last night sent a strong signal that it is indeed all about mobile in 2015.
The tech subsector will make or break companies this year - something you may have already noticed in the first round of 2015 earnings.
Just look at some of these headlines: "Facebook's Mobile Revenue Climbs to $2.5 Billion as Ad Prices Soar" from Advertising Age; "Apple Smashes Forecasts, Selling 74.5 Million iPhones in Q1" from Forbes; "Amazon Pilots Visual, Mobile-Only Affiliate Product" from Tech Crunch; "Yahoo's Mobile Sales Now Make Up 20% of Total Revenue" from Wall Street Journal; and "Alibaba drops on Revenue Miss, Margin Held Up, Mobile Mix Up" from Barron's.
So what did we see last night?
T-Mobile (NYSE: PCS) took up two ad spots, but the real shocker was three mobile gaming companies had spots. That means you consumed $16 million worth of ads about phone games last night.
"Game of War" aired a 30-second ad during the first quarter of the game that featured Kate Upton and clips of in-game footage. Then in the third quarter, "Clash of Clans" aired a 60-second spot in which Liam Neeson threatened in-game competitors (this was actually the author's favorite ad all night). And in the fourth quarter, "Heroes Charge" aired a 15-second spot.
And Mophie, which makes cases that extend a phone's batter life, had a 30-second ad ("What would the world look like if God's phone died?").
"We are now well on our way to having some 3.5bn to 4bn people on earth with a smartphone - there are probably 2bn today," tech-focused venture capitalist and analyst Benedict Evans told Venture Beat on Jan. 11. "For the first time ever, the tech industry is selling not just to big corporations or middle-class families but to four fifths of all the adults on earth - it is selling to people who don't have mains electricity or running water and substitute spending on cigarettes for mobile... So there will be something like 5 times more smartphones than consumer PCs and those devices are always with you and, with all their apps and sensors, are much more sophisticated than PCs ever were, seen as internet devices."
Two more important trends for investors came across in last night's Super Bowl ads...
No. 2: Hashtags Show Sign of Life for Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR)
Super Bowl 2015 ads confirm Twitter still matters to advertisers - even though the company continues to struggle. TWTR stock has dipped nearly 42% over the past 12 months.
Half of the 56 ads aired last night used hashtags. That's down slightly (7%) from last year's record 57% hashtag ad appearances, according to digital industry firm Marketing Land. Here's a list of Super Bowl 2015 ads that included hashtags (in order of appearance):
- Toyota: #OneBoldChoice
- BMW: #HelloFuture
- Snickers: #EatASnickers
- Skittles: #SettleIt
- Lexus: #LexusNX
- T-Mobile: #Uncarrier, #KimsDataStash
- Budweiser: #BestBuds
- Coca-Cola: #MakeItHappy
- Avocados from Mexico: #FirstDraftEver
- Dove Care+Men: #RealStrength
- Doritos: #Doritos
- Nissan: #WithDad
- Nationwide: #MakeSafeHappen
- Esurance: #sorta
- Fiat Chrysler: #500X
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- GoDaddy: #GoDaddy
- Microsoft: #empowering
- Toyota (repeat): #OneBoldChoice
- Always: #likeagirl
- Lexus (repeat): #Lexus RX
- Microsoft (repeat): #empowering
- T-Mobile (repeat): #uncarrier, #wificalling
- Mophie: #Staypowerful
- Loctite: #winatglue
- Bud Light: #upforanything
- Mercedes: #TheBigRace
- Doritos (repeat): #Doritos
- com: #ItsThatEasy
In addition to hashtag mentions, Super Bowl 2015 generated more than 28.4 million tweets last night. That's a 14% increase than when the Seahawks faced the Denver Broncos in 2014.
Twitter activity peaked at the end of the game when Patriots rookie defensive back Malcolm Butler intercepted a pass by Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. The turnover happened one yard from the goal line with only 20 seconds to go. According to Twitter, the move triggered 395,000 tweets per minute.
So while the social media company may be down, it's far from out. We still don't consider this a good stock to buy now, though, as it continues to struggle with user growth.
"The company's user base growth has been increasing at a radically slower rate," Money Morning Chief Financial Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald said on Dec. 18. "The numbers are going in the wrong direction."
Twitter earnings are scheduled for release Thursday after market close. You can stay tuned to Money Morning for coverage.
No. 3: Social Media Companies Are Now Part of the Conversation
Twitter wasn't the only social media company to take center stage in Super Bowl 2015 ads.
Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) was specifically mentioned in four ads (7.1% of ads overall) - the most of all social media firms:
- T-Mobile (in two separate ads)
- Avocados from Mexico
- Pitch Perfect 2
Twitter got three specific mentions (5.3%):
- T-Mobile (in two separate ads)
- Avocados from Mexico
And Snapchat got its first-ever Super Bowl ad mention this year. Snapchat is the private messaging app that turned down a $3 billion cash acquisition offer from FB in late 2013. Its mention came in the preview for "Pitch Perfect 2" - Snapchatters were asked to post snaps with the phrase "PitchPerfect2."
Facebook reported Super Bowl 2015 sparked a record number of topic-specific conversations onsite. It said 65 million people created 265 million interactions. That peaked at the game's surprise finish that sent 1.3 million people per minute talking about the game onsite.
By comparison, 88 million people generated 280 million interactions in the World Cup final last summer. That means the Super Bowl 2015 audience generated one more interaction (4 to 3) on average than did the World Cup audience.
Social media's presence in our daily lives is only going to increase further - that's part of why we call FB stock a "Buy." According to a January 2015 study from McKinsey & Co., 82% of companies have adopted at least one social tool in their business. And 72% expect that in the next three years, their organizations will invest more in social media - up 58% from a year ago.
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Related Articles:
- Marketing Land: Super Bowl Commercials with Hashtags Slipped to 50% in 2015
- Venture Beat: Tech in 2015: Get Ready for a Jetsons World