Surprising to almost no one, beer dominated social media conversations about alcoholic beverages during Super Bowl LIV, according to consumer insights firm Social Standards.
“As expected, beer dominated 2020 Super Bowl conversations about alcohol,” Social Standards CEO and co-founder Devon Bergman said. “Among light beers, the usual suspects (Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Light, and Michelob Ultra) all lost share of Super Bowl conversations in 2020.”
Of conversations online about the Super Bowl and alcohol, 56% mentioned “beer” and 12% mentioned “craft beer.”
The most discussed singular beer brand was Budweiser, which was mentioned in 5.67% of Super Bowl conversations, followed by Bud Light with 2.85% of conversations. And for good reason: Anheuser-Busch InBev, the maker of both brands, celebrated its 40th year as the Super Bowl’s exclusive beer sponsor this year.
The world’s largest beer manufacturer broadcast four commercials during the game: a Bud Light Seltzer ad featuring rapper Post Malone, a Budweiser commercial directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow, a Michelob Ultra spot starring Jimmy Fallon and a cadre of professional athletes, and a Michelob Ultra Pure Gold ad touting a philanthropic campaign to promote organic farming.
Michelob Ultra appeared in 0.47% of social media conversations during the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, Bud Light’s competitors, Molson Coors Beverage Company’s Coors Light and Miller Lite — who were namechecked last year in the Bud Light corn syrup commercial that sparked an ongoing lawsuit — saw their social mentions decline. Coors Light was mentioned in 0.51% of conversations, a decline of 26% from last year’s levels. Miller Lite fared about the same: mentions declined by 22%, to 0.45% of conversations, according to Social Standards.
Although Bud Light beer made cameos in the Bud Light Seltzer commercial and in a multi-branded Tide commercial with actors Charlie Day and Emily Hampshire, the company did not give the top-selling U.S. beer brand in off-premise retailers a dedicated commercial spot. Perhaps as a result, social mentions of Bud Light decreased by nearly 36%.
However, the focus on Bud Light Seltzer proved fruitful, according to alcohol-on-demand delivery digital platform Drizly.
“Overall, Bud Light Seltzer sales look to be the only product that saw a significant increase from Super Bowl ads this past weekend,” a Drizly spokesperson said.
Bud Light Seltzer orders via Drizly on Super Bowl Sunday increased 95% during the week of January 12, when the brand launched, and 55% over the week of January 26.
However, the splashy debut didn’t propel Bud Light Seltzer to hard seltzer’s top spot in Drizly sales or in social media conversations. Those designations belonged to Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw, the category leader.
Social Standards found that 1.72% of Super Bowl alcohol conversations discussed hard seltzer in general, while 0.96% of conversations mentioned White Claw specifically.
“White Claw’s share of Super Bowl conversations increased dramatically in 2020, at just below 1%,” Bergman said. “That may seem low, but it equates to White Claw being the third most talked-about brand in relation to the Big Game, following Budweiser and Hennessy.”
White Claw’s social media mentions during the Super Bowl increased nearly 775% over last year. Mentions of hard seltzer increased nearly 682%, according to Social Standards.
On Super Bowl Sunday, Drizly orders of hard seltzer accounted for one-fifth of all beer orders, up from 18% of all beer orders on the two weeks prior, according to a Drizly spokesperson. Although White Claw led Drizly hard seltzer orders nationally, its next-biggest competitor, Boston Beer Company’s Truly Hard Seltzer, was the category leader in Kansas City, hometown of Super Bowl Champions the Kansas City Chiefs.
Truly was mentioned in 0.02% of online conversations, Social Standards said. A-B’s Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer, which was featured in its own commercial during the 2019 game, was not mentioned in enough conversations to provide “statistically significant data,” Bergman said.
In Kansas City, top brands ordered via Drizly were Truly, White Claw, Bud Light, Molson Coors-owned Italian import Peroni and local craft offering Boulevard.
San Francisco’s top Drizly-ordered brands were a similar mix of large brands and local craft: White Claw, Bud Light Seltzer, Bud Light, Constellation Brands’ Corona and Modelo, Molson Coors’ Crispin Hard Cider, and Chico, California-based Sierra Nevada.