Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg score streaming touchdown with Super Bowl halftime show

The Super Bowl is traditionally a time where brands show their creative firepower with memorable and eye-catching ads. However, the big game is also an opportunity for the halftime show performers to score more streams and digital downloads following their performance. This year's Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show featured hip hop stars Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar, along with a guest appearance by 50 Cent.

In the hour following the Super Bowl, overall streams for Dr. Dre in the US jumped by nearly 185% on Spotify, the company told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. Tracks from the halftime set also saw a substantiated increase in global streams on Spotify immediately following the performance. According to data increases collected by Spotify between 10 pm to 11 pm Eastern Standard Time on 13 February, Mary J. Blige's "No More Drama" had a nearly 520% increase in global streams.

Meanwhile, streams for Dr. Dre's and Snoop Dogg's "The Next Episode" jumped by more than 270%, while "Still D.R.E." had more than a 245% increase in streams globally. At the same time, Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" had more than a 250% increase in streams.

Overall, about one in 10 Spotify users in the US listened to at least one of the halftime artistes over the past two years. Eminem is one of Spotify's top-streamed hip hop artists of all time, with "Lose Yourself" topping the list as the most-streamed track across classic hip hop, rap, and R&B. At the same time, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg are two of Spotify's top-streamed classic hip-hop artists, with "Still D.R.E." being one of the most popular tracks.

These hip hop stars were not the only ones who had an increase in streams following their halftime performance at the Super Bowl. In 2020, the song catalogues of Jennifer Lopez and Shakira garnered 31.1 million on-demand streams (audio and video combined), Billboard reported, citing statistics from Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Meanwhile, in 2015, catalogue streams on Spotify for Missy Elliott also jumped 676% just before the game's kickoff to shortly after, Time reported. Elliott was brought on board the halftime show by Katy Perry as a surprise guest that year. More specifically, Elliott's song "Lose Control" saw the biggest spike in streams, rising 1,396% during the period, Time said.

What were consumers searching for online during the Super Bowl?

This year's Super Bowl drew about 10.1 million TV viewers, ESPN said. This was a 6% jump from the 95.2 million TV viewers last year. Nike, Pepsi, and Bose emerged as winners during the Super Bowl as their brand logos were among those that had "millions of dollars in media exposure" during the game, CNBC said, quoting data compiled by software firm Hive and sports consultancy firm Elevate.

Sponsors amassed US$170 million of in-game exposure, a slight increase from US$169 million during last year's game. The 2020 game brought in US$143 million of in-game exposure, CNBC reported. According to Hive, sponsor brands had more than 75 minutes of on-screen time during the big game, a dip from 104 minutes in 2021 which was partly due to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions this year.

Meanwhile, statistics by YouTube provided to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE showed that viewership of Super Bowl ads on the platform during game day rose over 35% in the living room from last year. The top ad by the number of views on game day from 7 pm Pacific Time to 10 pm Eastern Standard Time was Amazon's Big Game Commercial: Mind Reader.

Budweiser, Michelob ULTRA, Doritos, Coinbase, and Chevy were the brands with the most searched ads in the US during the game.

Consumers were also curious about the cost of a Super Bowl commercial, with searches for 'how much is it for a commercial on the super bowl' increasing 1,200% during the game in the US, Google said.

"Qr code scanner" was a breakout search in the US during Coinbase's commercial. Meanwhile, Larry David, Dr. Evil, Jim Carrey, Peyton Manning, and Scarlett Johansson were the most searched celebrities in commercials during the game.

The halftime show also brought about some interesting searches on Google:

1. Who sings 'it's your birthday'?
2. How tall is Dr. Dre?
3. Who is 50 Cent?
4. Who are the halftime performers?
5. How old is Mary J. Blige?

The top five trending questions overall during the Super Bowl, according to Google, were:

1. What is Dre Day?
2. How tall is Kendrick Lamar?
3. Who sings 'it's your birthday'?
4. How old is 50 Cent?
5. What quarter is the Super Bowl in?

Interestingly, the top US national trending moment during the game was "50 cent super bowl" with an increase of +26,000%.

Top ads Super Bowl ads globally

Can't get enough of the Super Bowl ads? Here are the top 10 ones by game day views on YouTube globally.

1. Amazon

2. T-Mobile

3. Hyundai USA

4. Universal Pictures

5. NOPE

6. T-Mobile

7. Nissan

8. Booking.com

9. Rakuten

10. BMW

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