YouTube users voted on their favorite Super Bowl advertisement for the past two weeks, and it’s not too surprising that Dodge won the crown. Their ad was a bold step towards originality, using strictly photos and a voice-over from the late Paul Harvey, who was a famous radio broadcaster for over a half-century. While the ad may not have been comical or fast-paced, it tugged at the heart strings for many viewers.

Rounding out the top five Super Bowl ads on YouTube include Budweiser’s “Clydesdales” ad, Samsung’s “The Next Best Thing” featuring Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, Jeep’s “Whole Again” ad, and Hyundai’s “Team” ad. All five of these adds have a combined 62.7 million views as of this writing, with the most being Samsung’s ad with 21.3 million views.

In total, these five ads made up more than 30% of all total views of Super Bowl ads and teasers on YouTube. Plus, the Ad Blitz channel itself had over 46 million interactions. To celebrate the end of Ad Blitz, YouTube is hosting a Google+ Hangout later today at 3 pm ET where they will chat with the “creative heavyweights behind these winning ads, along with ADWEEK editors James Cooper and Tim Nudd.”

The online viewership metrics for the game are now in and Super Bowl XLVII set an impressive record. The game set multiple viewership records for a single game sporting event in the United States and also went down in history as the most social telecast ever. Data supporting these claims is provided by Omniture and other third-party monitoring firms.

The CBSSports.com live stream for the game attracted 3 million unique viewers to the video player for an increase of 43% compared to Super Bowl XLVI last year. People who watched the game online generated nearly 10,000,000 live video streams for an increase of 100% from last year. The game set a record for minute streamed with 114.4 million.

The minutes streamed number is 46% higher than last year. CBSSports.com also reports that Sunday was the largest recorded audience in the website’s history. This year’s Super Bowl also marked the first time that a Super Bowl halftime performance was streamed live online in the US. The game also generated more than 52.5 million social comments throughout the day more than tripling the number of social comments for last year’s Super Bowl.

[via CBSSports.com]

The traffic surge happened between 8 and 9pm EST, and was accompanied by 73,000 calls that took place during the Super Bowl, a tad higher than the Superdome’s approximately 71,000-person audience. In addition to the record achieved during the traffic burst, the total traffic of 388GB was also a record for the carrier. The traffic encompasses mobile uploads, texting, and social media usage, among others.

This is a boon for the carrier, which experienced a $3.9 billion net loss in the fourth quarter of 2012. Likewise, last Q4′s numbers for the company were substantially better than the same quarter the year before, which had experienced a $6.7 billion loss.

About 780,000 new subscribers joined AT&T during the fourth quarter of 2012, which has seen a steady rise in data usage over the last several years, due in part to the explosion in the number of smartphone users. The carrier experienced a record number of smratphone sales in Q4 of 2012 with 10.2 million devices sold.

[via Bloomberg]

The stats come to us from networking equipment company Sandvine, and they say that overall internet traffic took a 15% dip once the Super Bowl started. They even provided a fairly detailed chart pointing out the notable moments during the big game (pictured above). As you can see, internet usage kept rising a bit after opening kickoff, but slowly started to see a decline further into the game.

However, once the Superdome blackout hit, traffic slowly started to rise, and then once the San Francisco 49ers began their late-game comeback, traffic went down the drain, which isn’t too surprising considering that the 49ers can back from a huge deficit to get within a score from the Baltimore Ravens.

While Sandvine says that traffic statistics have shown continued growth in live streaming adoption of sporting events, the company still believes that streaming “is no threat to replace viewing via traditional broadcast methods.” However, if live streaming gets to the point where it becomes really popular, Sandvine thinks that networks and broadcasters will give in and stream almost everything. That sounds hard to believe now, but as viewing habits change, so will our perception of what will become the norm.

[via The Next Web]

Samsung ended up going all out this year for their Super Bowl ad, taking up a full two minutes of airtime, costing them around $16 million after it was all said and done. Actors Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, as well as NBA all-star LeBron James made appearances in the commercial, and discussed some ideas on what Samsung’s “next big thing” could be. BlackBerry (formerly known as RIM) aired their first-ever Super Bowl ad, spending a few million dollars on an ad showing off the new BlackBerry Z10, which according to the ad, will light you on fire, so be careful.

Best Buy ended up airing their own Super Bowl ad as well, and it features SNL alum and Parks & Recreation star Amy Poehler, who is pretty much the most adorable and funniest woman in show business right now, so we have to give it up for Best Buy for pulling off such a cute and witty ad.

We knew GoDaddy would make an appearance at the Super Bowl, as they do every year, but this time they aired two ads, one featuring the typical sexy theme that you know and love, and then there was an ad that actually wasn’t that bad. The company advertised their .co domain names, and the ad rings true of anyone with an original idea these days.

As far as the automotive commercials, it was a hit or miss mostly. Audi’s “Prom” ad was probably our favorite one out of the bunch, with Dodge’s “Paul Harvey” commercial at a close second. Other car ads included VW’s semi-racist Jamaican ad, Hyundai’s adorable “Team” ad featuring kids with super powers, Kia’s “Hotbots” ad, Mercedes-Benz with their celebrity-filled commercial (as well as one featuring Kate Upton), Lincoln’s Jimmy Fallon ad and “Phoenix” teaser, and an awkward Toyota ad featuring Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco.

Movie trailers were also hot stuff during Super Bowl commercial breaks. The Iron Man 3 trailer caught our eye the most, with Star Trek: Into Darkness also showing off a quick teaser for us. World War Z also made a quick appearance, and we also saw an extended teaser for Johnny Depp’s upcoming movie, The Lone Ranger.

Now we want to hear what you think. We know not every ad this year was amazing, and some were iffy at best. What was your favorite commercial from the Super Bowl? Which tech company blew it out of the park? Which one could’ve been better? What suggestions would you make to the creators of the ads? Sound off in the comments below!

Google doesn’t tell us exactly what differentiates a trending search term over a most-searched term, but in any case, the most-searched term during the Super Bowl was “The Ravens.” The team won this year’s big game, narrowly beating the 49ers 34-31 in a nail-biter. As you can see in the chart above, Beyonce saw a huge spike in Google activity during halftime, absolutely soaring over every other search term.

As far as YouTube goes, the most-searched for commercials on the video streaming site were ads from M&M’s, Mercedes-Benz, Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful, Lincoln, Audi, and “Gangnam Style.” Of course, there was also a trend in YouTube searches for Beyonce, as well as Alicia Keys, who sang the National Anthem before the game.

Speaking of YouTube, Google mentioned how the platform was increasingly becoming more popular with advertisers when it comes to showing off their Super Bowl commercials before the big game. In total, Google says that Super Bowl commercials were watched more than 66 million times on YouTube before Super Bowl Sunday.

A document from Apple’s developer webpage was released last week talking about the new shorter URLs, but this is the first time we’ve seen it in action. Going to AppStore.com/StarTrekApp will take you to the app’s page in the app store, instead of using the longer URL form that involved a bunch of numbers that no one would be able to remember.

The vanity URLs will be able to allow developers to create shorter links for developer app pages, as well as landing pages for both iOS and Mac apps. These new URLs will no doubt increase the exposure that developers give their apps. In the past, promotors would simply display a banner or icon that said to look for the app in the App Store, but now they can add in a direct link, which will certainly increase the exposure of the app.

If you’re up for a little history lesson, the late Steve Jobs actually acquired the AppStore.com domain from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff as a personal gift in 2008 after the iTunes App Store was officially announced. And not like it’s a huge surprise or anything, but the Cupertino-based company and Amazon are currently in a legal battle over the “app store” name, in which the court ruled that it was a general term and was not to be trademarked.

[via CNET]

With Gameplan, the Ravens are able to take their iPads and view their entire book of plays in both shorthand and with video demonstrations from previous games. Coaches are able to play back events the same game in which they happened, review the first half of the game before the second begins, and transmit any and all information they’ve got to the whole of the team with a tap.

This system has been in use for quite a while – according to the Wall Street Journal, former Baltimore Ravens man Chuch Pagano asked that his new team (the Indianapolis Colts) begin using digital playbooks immediately after joining up with them in 2012. Director of football information systems for the Colts Ryan Fannin let it be known that 90 iPads were handed to players and 20 iPads were given to coaches at the start of this season.

One must assume the system works for at least one team as the Ravens and none other than linebacker Ray Lewis hit the Mercedes-Benz Superdome tonight. And it’s not just Gameplan (by Global Apptitude) that’s been used this year – according to ESPN, the group known as PlayerLync is currently providing iPad-based digital playbook services to the Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, and San Diego Chargers. For the Ravens, it’s all about Gameplan.

As Co-Founder and CTO of Global Apptitude Jeff Teles lets us know, a quarter of the NFL is currently using GamePlan. These teams are as follows: Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Carolina Panthers, Detroit Lions, and the Indianapolis Colts. Teles also made note that the Baltimore Ravens were, in fact, the first team in the NFL to implement iPads.

We also had a brief chat with Co-founder of Global Apptitude Randy Fusee this weekend where he made clear that, “the Baltimore Ravens user our Gameplan technology to prepare their players to play each week.” He went on to note that their app “brigs scouting reports, game plans, playbooks, and film study to each players’ iPad and allows for real time communications and collaboration between coaches and players.” Below you’ll see a report from FoxNashville where the app can be seen in-use.

Now we wait to see if the 49ers reveal any usage of digital solutions such as these in the Big Game as well. While you’re waiting for that answer, get pumped up and prepared for tonight with our lovely Super Bowl 2013 streaming video sources guide, including a fabulous set of iPad apps, if that’s what you’re all about.

The all-new 2014 KIA Forte has a stylish design and plenty of high-tech features given the price point. This commercial is simply titled “Respect the Tech” and you’ll quickly see why. Let’s just say you should treat your car with care. For a better look at all those new features and its luxury interior take a look at our 2014 KIA Forte test drive for additional details. Enjoy the sexy robot commercial below starring former Miss USA Alyssa Campanella as a robot.

Next up to highlight the new 2014 KIA Sorento that’s been redesigned almost completely inside to offer the up-most luxury and quality features we all want in a crossover, is their new “Space Babies” commercial set to get airtime in the 3rd quarter of the big game on Sunday. KIA promises to answer the age old kid question: Daddy, where do babies come from? So check it out for the answer:

“UVO, Play Wheels on the bus!” This is a quick glance at the new and improved redesigned UVO 2.0 Infotainment system that comes standard in all 2014 KIA vehicles. Featuring large TFT displays, backup cameras, smartphone integrate and accompanying iPhone apps and more. We figured they were both worth a quick laugh. Enjoy the big game as surely they have a few tricks up their sleeve come Sunday. Hopefully that Ravens D has a few more tricks up their sleeve too. Who’s your pick?

Streaming Game Sources Online

If you head over to the CBS Sports home page and click on over to their /SuperBowl/ portal, you’ll be able to see the whole game live. This is going to be your number one try-first link without a doubt, everything else being a thing you try only if you’ve already tried CBS and it’s failed. Another place you’re going to want to head if you’re all about pre-game action is NFL’s own web space where they’ve got some Road to the Super Bowl video now and through the future.

11AM EST Road to the Super Bowl
NOON EST Wynton Marsalls Special
1PM EST Phil Simms All-Iron Team
2PM The Super Bowl Today special
6PM Kickoff Show
6:30PM EST Super Bowl XLVII – be there!

Mobile App Game Streaming Sources

If you’re a Verizon user and you’ve subscribed to NFL Mobile, you’re in luck – the whole game will be streamed through your smartphone. This app is a Verizon exclusive and does cost a monthly fee, but you’re also going to be able to pick up every bit of NFL action across the board all year long as well.

With a device like the Motorola DROID RAZR HD you’re also going to be able to output the video you get to your HDTV with a microHDMI cord – and you’re back in the big time again! You can use this app on Android or iOS – it’s all good!

BONUS: You’ll also find that Apple has revealed an iTunes NFL Super Bowl XLVII guide with every awesome app, video, and potential game-day album you could possibly want!

Connected Oddities / Statistics / Guides / Games

The group known as LiveFyre is showing a feed with hashtag #SB47 to keep you up to date on every single social networking blast from sources around the world all the way up to and through the SuperBowl. It’s got images and text coming in un-censored from everyone in the world, so be wary of the content, but it’s also rather unique and fun! If you need information about the game before, during, or at the actual event, you’ll want to pick up the Super Bowl XLVII Guide app for Android and/or iOS.

Exclusive to iOS are the following three Super Bowl apps with more data, statistics, video, and everything in-between than you can handle! First you’ll want to check out NFL Game Pass as it is another live stream source for the game, this time for international viewers and ex-pats (Canada and Mexico excluded – sorry y’all!) Second you’ll want to see the SB XLVII Guide for massive amounts of data pre-game and the Super Bowl XLVII Official NFL Game Program all throughout game day!

If you’re getting wild and restless in your wait this weekend and you’re not all about commercials, you’ll want to check out a few official-licensed games from the NFL as well, starting with the NFL Shuffle, that being another iOS exclusive. Games such as NFL Quarterback ’13, NFL Kicker ’13, and of course Madden NFL Social are available for multiple platforms, also all included in the official Super Bowk XLVII: Official Apps & Games listing in iTunes for iPhone and iPad.

Let us know if you happen across any other legitimate excellence in app or online streaming form up until the big game day – and be sure to affirm you’re rooting for the right team!

NBC reports that 2.1 million people tuned into the live Internet stream of Super Bowl XLVI. The statistic for the number of users comes from two companies that measure traffic, including Omniture and mDialog. The number of online viewers is still the tiniest drop in the bucket of overall Super Bowl viewers with an average of 111.3 million watching the game on TV.

NBC notes that the viewership for the streaming game was up significantly from the normal streaming viewership of weekly games that NBC says are watched by an average of 300,000 unique users. NBC was also streaming clips from the game along with commercials and notes that 1.83 million clips and commercials were viewed. The 2.1 million unique users watch the total 4.59 million live video streams. That would seem to indicate that roughly every user that watched had to reload the stream at least once.

[via New York Times]

Honda’s “Matthew’s Day Off” commercial was the most-liked among full Super Bowl commercials for its ode to Ferris Bueller. Sitting right behind that was Volkswagen’s complete version of its “The Dog Strikes Back” ad. The Skechers commercial titled “GOrun Mr. Quiggly” and “Dannon Oikos: The Tease” rounded out the top five, respectively. Here is the complete list of the top 10 user-rated ads on Hulu:

1. Volkswagen: The Bark Side Teaser
2. Honda: Matthew’s Day Off – Extended
3. Volkswagen: The Dog Strikes Back
4. Skechers: GOrun Mr. Quiggly
5. Dannon Oikos: The Tease
6. Chevrolet: 2012
7. M&M’s: It’s That Kind of Party
8. Audi: Vampire Party
9. E*Trade: Fatherhood
10. Acura: Transactions – Extended

These are where the votes stood as of 2:00 AM this morning. Of course, if you happened to miss any of these, and you weren’t among the rest of the country who caught up on the ads during work or school today, they’re all still available to view on Hulu. Super Bowl ads are more important than ever, since they live on in YouTube, Hulu, and other viral sites. In addition, we analyze all of them after the fact in an expansively increasing number of ways. Just wait until next year.

Around 350,000 people around the country remembered to log into their Foursquare account while they were still sober and check in to a Super Bowl event. Nearly 3,000 Foursquare users checked in from the stadium in Indianapolis itself. Aside from that, as can be expected, there was an enormous cluster all along the northeast coast, stretching from well below New York all the way up through New England. But even areas that didn’t have a dog in the fight still reveled in the partying atmosphere that the Super Bowl always brings.

Oh, and here’s a surprising stat – according to Foursquare, 49% of the people who checked in at a Super Bowl even were women, quashing two stereotypes at once and proving women are technologically up to speed and also like sports. Or, at least they have a boyfriend who likes sports and while they were bored they decided to log into Foursquare. Yeah, let’s go with that one. And beyond the US, Foursquare noted that there were “Super Bowl” check-ins in 117 countries including Iran, Afghanistan, Macedonia, Russia, and Japan.

[via Wired]

Twitter has released one very interesting statistic. An official tweet from Twitter has announced that during the final 3 minutes of the Super Bowl there was an average of 10,000 tweets every second. That’s an insane number to me 600,000 tweets in a minute and over that three minute span 1.8 million tweets were made.

I wonder how many those tweets were from Patriots fans bemoaning the impending loss by their favorite team. It would be interesting to know how those tweets were made be it from smartphones, tablets, notebooks. I would imagine the vast majority were made via mobile phones.

[via Twitter]

During one of the many media events leading up to Sunday’s big game, Brady was asked about where he was last year at this time and was quoted as saying, “I was rehabbing my foot in Costa Rica watching the game on an illegal Super Bowl website and now I’m actually playing in the game, so it’s pretty cool.” We have to wonder how many of his fellow Costa Rican posse will be watching him from the same illegitimate site this year.

Although, for the first time, if you don’t have access to a TV and you want to tune into the live action, you will have a legal way to do so. The game will be streamed on the official websites of NBC and the NFL. In addition, Verizon has nabbed exclusive rights to the live mobile stream. With these new viewing avenues, the number of people who tune into the Super Bowl may very well be larger than ever. But will those PC and smartphone streamers still watch the commercials?

[via Gizmodo]

There’s been some talk by Tim Cook on Apple charitable givings. Apple is discussing fitness tech behind the scenes. Motorola’s newest war is against Apple and they’ve won an iCloud ban in Germany. Meanwhile their sales injunction on iPad and iPhone in Germany has been suspended.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 has been confirmed with details including deep-hook Skype and Win8 Kernel for all. Google’s been speaking with congress about privacy and has failed to convince them that they’re no longer evil. Meanwhile Megaupload’s Dotcom remains in jail with no bail and alleging police brutality.

Of course you may have noticed that these football stars aren’t in the game, nor are they on either of the teams competing in this game. Super Bowl XLVI is a rematch between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, they having last met at the fabulously epic Super Bowl XLII. The players speaking on the airwaves here will therefor be able to bring you turn by turn action the whole game long, right from the sidelines!

You can find Jackson and Johnson in their own PlayUp rooms on the day of the Super Bowl as well as in several other more general rooms as they make an awesome effort to bring you as much action as they can from their own unique perspectives. Jackson will be using the username “sj39″ while Johnson will be using the name “StevieJohnson13.” Have a superb time hanging out with the fellas here and head to the timeline below to see a selection of other Super Bowl apps and actions leading up to the big game!

Verizon isn’t the only company making Super Bowl-watching history this year. NBC, the exclusive telecaster of the big game, will allow users to watch the match on NBCSports.com. It will also be streamed live on NFL.com. For those who want to watch the game on-the-go, you’ll need to download the Verizon Wireless NFL Mobile app, which is available on both the Android Market and the Apple App Store. Customers with a 4G phone get to watch the game for free, but those with a 3G handset must pay $3 on the day of the big game.

MobiTV was beginning to make inroads in the niche market of streaming video to feature phones, but before it could really take off it ended up becoming obsolete in the world of smartphones and apps. The company now works in the enterprise space, striking deals with cable providers and technology companies to offer seamless video integration services. Its name is largely unknown to the general consumer.

[via Multichannel News]

Seriously, though, Samsung will air a Super Bowl ad for the first time in the company’s history. And the product that will mark this flagship occasion – the Galaxy Note. The Android-powered jumbo phone has gained a lot of attention for its 5.3-inch display and a stylus, making it look more like a tablet than a phone. The ad was directed by Bobby Farrelly, whose credits include Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary.

That’s all we know about the actual commercial, though given those referenced film titles we can probably assume it’ll be a very humorous ad. The spot was also reportedly filmed with the Galaxy Note’s 1080p HD camera. The phone, which has a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of memory, will be available through AT&T on February 19. Its after-contract price is $300.

[via Mobile Burn]

The Madden-sponsored Super Bowl replication, something that has become an annual tradition, showed the Giants ahead by 24-10 in the third quarter, when all of the sudden the New England Patriots make a comeback to tie it up at 24-24. Just when it looked like the match might end up in overtime, the Giants make a last-second, game-winning field goal, bringing the final score to 27-24, giving the Giants their second Super Bowl victory against the Patriots in the last five years.

Since 2004, the official Madden simulations have correctly predicted the winning team in the Super Bowl all but two times. In 2009, it predicted the Steelers would best the Cardinals 28-24; the actual score was eerily close, at 27-23. Last year, though, it was off, choosing the Steelers to overtake the Packers by 4 points. Instead, the Packers dominated with a score of 31-25.