Nielsen found that many Super Bowl viewers like to keep one eye on their computer screens during the game. A study of simultaneous TV and Internet usage found that 12% of Super Bowl viewers last year also spent time on the web, at an average of 24 minutes per user.
Nielsen found that simultaneous users were most engaged in general interest, e-mail, and online social networks. Sports sites, which might be more directly associated with the game itself, were visited by 18% of simultaneous users.
| TOP WEBSITE CATEGORIES VISITED BY SUPER BOWL VIEWERS (2/1/09, 6pm to 11pm ET) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| RANK | Category | % of Simultaneous Users | Simultaneous Mins. Per User |
| 1 | General Interest Portals & Communities** | 54.20% | 2.2 |
| 2 | Search | 35.90% | 2.5 |
| 3 | Member Communities | 32.70% | 16.1 |
| 4 | 30.10% | 3.9 | |
| 5 | Current Events & Global News | 18.30% | 3.2 |
| Source: The Nielsen Company **“General Interest”is defined as portals & community sites – generally main network homepages - that appeal to a wide variety of web users and direct them to more specific subcategories and channels. Examples include Google.com, Yahoo.com, and AOL.com NOTE: Data derived from small sample base sizes and not subject to scientific conclusions. | |||
Almost a quarter of simultaneous users spent some time during the game on Facebook. Those users spent an average of 15 minutes on the site. Google and Yahoo! Mail were also popular destinations for Super Bowl viewers.
| TOP WEBSITES VISITED BY SUPER BOWL VIEWERS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| RANK | Website | % of Simultaneous Users | Simultaneous Mins. Per Person |
| 1 | 23.50% | 15.1 | |
| 2 | Google Search | 21.60% | 2.6 |
| 3 | Yahoo! Mail | 12.40% | 3.6 |
| 4 | MSN Homepage | 11.80% | 0.9 |
| 5 | Yahoo! Homepage | 11.80% | 0.7 |
| Source: The Nielsen Company | |||