I turn again to our faithful friend Google Trends to take a look at the search engine queries people perform surrounding the single most popular annual event on the planet, the Super Bowl.
The Day Before The Super Bowl
On Saturday, February 2, the day before Super Bowl XLII, people are more interested in the weather than the game. And I don’t mean the weather at the game; they are interested in a certain groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil. Four of the top 10 searches on that day are devoted to the rodent.
You have to scroll down to the 14th most popular search phrase before you find one related to football. Searches for Art Monk reveal an interest in the Washington Redskins wide receiver who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame that day. Only 13 of the 100 most popular searches that day had to do with football, and of those 13 only 5 are related to the big game (superbowl time, super bowl time, superbowl schedule, superbowl kickoff, and what time does the superbowl start).
All the other football searches had to do with the Hall of Fame or this year’s inductees:
- art monk
- nfl hall of fame
- andre tippett
- darrell green
- keith curtis
- pro football hall of fame
- emmitt thomas
- fred dean
- gary zimmerman
The day before the Super Bowl, then, people are researching the Hall of Fame inductees and preparing for Super Bowl Sunday.
Super Bowl Sunday Searches
By contrast, on February 3, Super Bowl Sunday, the top 100 searches are nearly all related to the game; there were either football related searches or searches for personalities, ads, or events having to do with the Super Bowl.
I laughed out loud when I saw the most popular search (how old is tom petty) because that was the first thing that popped into my head when he took the stage for the halftime show.
Of the top 100, only four searches were not related to the game:
- mira sorvino – who was to appear in the episode of House that followed the game,
- nick cokas – some guy who married an American Idol contestant
- ernie pyle – the famed WWII correspondent whose death photos had recently been published
- maria shriver – the Kennedy family figure who recently endorsed Barack Obama
Demonstrating just how much of a cultural event the Super Bowl has become, none of the top 10 searches are related to the actual game. Very few of the top 100 queries, in fact, are about the game itself.
Most of the queries are for personalities appearing at the event (tom petty & jordan sparks) or for Super Bowl ads.
Super Bowl Monday Searches
The day after the Super Bowl, people turn their attention elsewhere. As of 10:30 p.m. CST Monday, February 4, there are only eight Super Bowl related queries in the top 100. A Super Bowl related search does not occur until number 20, with giants parade. The rest were:
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