Girls Got Gold

They are women, watch them win! A huge trend at the this year’s Olympic games was the US women dominating, in their events and socially. Not only did they take home 29 gold medals – more than most countries! – they also beat out their male counterparts in the battle of social mentions on the AddThis network.

• High school student Missy Franklin had more buzz than Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte during the swimming events.
• Hope Solo saw a larger increase in interest than Usain Bolt when both athletes had career showings on August 9th.
• Overall, swimmer Missy Franklin, gymnasts Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber, and beach volleyball queens Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh saw more social activity than Olympic media dominators Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.

It was only fitting that the original Girl Power group, the Spice Girls, reunited for the closing ceremonies to spice up your life.

Chobani Crowned Brand Champ

We’ve been tallying scores daily to see which Team USA sponsors and other top advertisers were leading the pack with their Olympic campaigns. It was an impressive field of competitors including veterans McDonalds, Visa and Coca-Cola. But newcomer Chobani Greek Yogurt ultimately came out on top!

Chobani launched their first TV campaign only 16 months ago, so hats off to them for such a successful showing at this year’s games. The silver went to Kellogg’s and Visa took bronze.

Congrats to all the advertisers on a great 2012 Olympics!

Sports Getting Social

So we know the athletes who were talked about and the brands that made a bang, but which events overall had people atwitter across the social web? Gymnastics, swimming and beach volleyball!

Is it just us or are we seeing a trend with provocative uniforms and most talked about events? The tighter the fit, the more vocal the audience? Just sayin’.

During last night’s telecast of the US Women’s soccer gold medal victory and Usain Bolt’s dash to glory, we saw an amazing trend on our network. Bolt’s win coincided with Hope Solo’s amazing second half save to hold onto the US’s 2-1 lead over Japan. Immediately, the internet reacted:

This is a fascinating example of real-time TV events impacting online social activity. In this chart, you can see down to the minute when the conversation changed from Usain to Hope. Overall, Hope spiked the most and we think it’s well deserved recognition!

McDonald’s and Kellogg’s were neck and neck yesterday with social mentions each increasing by 6%. For the second day in a row, McDonald’s increased Twitter followers by more than 1,600 users. Looks like folks are really responding to The Simple Joy of Winning. In the UK, the We All Make the Games campaign strategy that puts “user generated content front and centre of Olympic advertising” is exceeding the fast food chain’s expectations.

Nike takes home the bronze. Will the impressive 3,000+ increase in Twitter followers lead to a Gold for the retailer tomorrow? Stay tuned to the Daily Scorecard and we shall see…

Visa scored their second gold medal in today’s brand races, most likely due to an 11% increase in mentions on the AddThis network. A recent CNBC article brought light to the fact that Visa cardholders have contributed $1.4B to the UK tourism industry during the Olympic games. Sounds like it’s a well deserved spot on the podium!

McDonalds wasn’t able to medal this round, but did return an impressive 1771 Twitter followers. Maybe it was the free advertising from the women’s Chinese basketball team uniforms? We kid, we kid.

Omega, the official timekeeper of the Olympics, is back on top of the brand medal stand today with a Gold in social mentions and adding to another Gold one week ago.

The top medal winner so far, Chobani Greek yogurt, adds another Silver.

Nike, the company providing those neon green kicks for the US athletes, got the mentions Bronze and more than 3,400 new Twitter followers.

Though Kelloggs held onto their first place position in today’s brand scorecard, Nike and McDonalds have gained an impressive amount of Twitter followers over the past 24 hours.

McDonalds acquired over 6000 and Nike over 2000. Very impressive numbers!

Heading into the second week of the Olympics, Kelloggs has snagged another gold medal almost exactly one week after their first.

Other notable changes, Nike seems to have fallen off the scorecard altogether after winning the gold yesterday. United also gained a good number of Twitter followers despite losing ground in mentions and write-ups. Overall, Chobani has had a great Olympics, making the podium multiple times.

For more data and articles about this year’s games, check out our Olympics page, updated daily.

NBC has taken a lot of heat in their coverage of the Olympics.  Inspiring a trending Twitter hashtag known as #NBCFail.  Four days ago the hashtag did not even exist but it burst onto the scene on Sunday.

This hashtag inspired criticism in the mainstream media from across the globe.  Here are a sample of top social content talking about the coverage and hashtag.

More #NBCFail Olympics: “Live Streams” Are Not Live – Los Angeles Local News, Weather, and Traffic

#NBCFail: Na era das mídias sociais, críticos se unem no Twitter para reclamar da cobertura atrasada das Olimpíadas | Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas

Amerikanen uiten frustratie over vertraagd uitzenden van de Spelen: #NBCFail – Internet & Media – VK

But, is the problem as large as it seems for NBC?  TV Ratings are up 10% over the 2008 Beijing games.  Is the tape delayed coverage and posting of results live hurting social activity of the events?  Not according to what we see in this chart monitoring social mentions of NBCFail, which shows people are not complaining during work, they are complaining while watching the games at home.

We analyzed the Women’s Gymnastics Team Final a few nights ago, which is arguably the most popular event here in the United States to see if social mentions were impacted by people watching the live stream.
The answer may surprise you.  Despite the uproar that NBC is failing or no one is watching the Games because media outlets are leaking the results, the fact that last night the Women’s Gymnastics final saw almost a 1000% spike in mentions in prime time during the tape delay.

Even on an average Olympic day, people are more engaged socially in the evening with the Olympics despite knowing the results and having access to the live stream during the day.

It was a busy day for Team USA yesterday with lots of exciting results! We took a dive into our data to see who is getting the most buzz.

Michael Phelps grabbing the gold in the 400 IM race and Ryan Lochte right behind him claiming silver. But despite their successes Missy Franklin still saw the largest increase in interest on July 31st with a nearly 250% increase in interest* across the AddThis network:

Another popular set of athletes this week has been the women’s gymnastics team, who won the the group gold only a few days ago. Then, last night, Gabby Douglas made Olympics history, becoming the first African American to win the individual all-around gold medal. This exciting event is made clear with a 450% increase for Gabby on the network:

It was an amazing night for all watching and we can’t wait to see what happens next. Go USA!

*Measured by shares, clicks and searches