We’re less than 72 hours away from the biggest sporting event of the year. On Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers will take on the Baltimore Ravens in front of over 100 million pairs of eyes, but the big question for us isn’t “who’s going to win?” but rather “what exactly are those eyes going to be looking at?”.
Last year, for the first time ever, the NFL and NBC broadcast the Super Bowl online for free. This drew in 2.1 million viewers, adding to the record breaking 111.3 million TV viewers. This year the NFL is upping the ante, broadcasting the game not just online, but also on NFL Mobile (exclusive to Verizon customers with an iPhone or Android device for a $5 fee).
On top competing against each other, the 49ers and Ravens will have to compete against a veritable onslaught of social TV applications, all vying to serve as a second screen.
Let’s take a look at Sunday’s starting lineup:
GetGlue – Currently you can check in to the Super Bowl XLVII Pepsi Halftime Show to get a “coming soon” sticker. You’ll also be able to check in on Sunday at any point in the day, as well as specifically during the fourth quarter to unlock a free month of Hulu Plus. Additionally GetGlue is launching a new kind of promoted entry with Pepsi as its launch partner. The promoted posts, and extra content (such as photos and commercials) from Pepsi will show up in the feed on GetGlue’s Super Bowl XLVII page. While that might not mean much for consumers, it’s another step forward for GetGlue to be able to monetize its service.
Viggle – We’ve already covered Viggle’s MyGuy app, so I’ll let my cohort Alex do the talking on that one.
CBS – In addition to being able to watch the entire game online (from a variety of camera angles of your choosing), including the highly anticipated Beyoncé halftime show and commercials on demand, CBSSports.com will also be tracking social conversation on Twitter and doing real-time polling.
Hootsuite – If you’ve got the game on the big screen, but want to keep track social chatter, Hootsuite has a streamless hub that will keep you up to date on recent tweets from each team, likes and conversation from Facebook, and real-time Twitter sentiment tracking.
Shazam – The song identifier turned TV tagging service dropped hints during CES that Shazam’s tagging functionality will be incorporated into at least one nationally broadcast commercial during the game, but he’s been tightlipped about what brand(s) would be utilizing the platform. Better keep your trigger finger on the Shazam button on your phone just in case.
IntoNow – While not an official social TV participant of Super Bowl XLVII, Animal Planet and their sponsor Subaru have teamed up with the service to offer “Puppy Bowl Plus,” a second screen solution to America’s favorite football counterprogramming . The experience will include the ability to interact with Puppy Bowl fans across the country, as well as bonus pictures, quizzes, video extras and a whole slew of content guaranteed to make you go “awwwwwwwwww!” Subaru will also have interactive ads on both your TV and your iPad.
