Social media fragmentation exposes cracks forming in Super Bowl second screen plans

It’s a moment brought to you by social fragmentation.

Now that we’re two years into Elon Musk’s acquisition of X, advertisers’ relationship with the platform remains complex. Since then, a slew of challengers — mostly Threads and Bluesky — have come into play, fragmenting the social media landscape even more. (Last month, Threads started testing ads, making a play for social media ad dollars.) Meanwhile, TikTok still faces a ban in a matter of weeks. As context, this time last year, TikTok was pitching itself as the prime destination for Super Bowl ad spend and was speculated to replace X and dominate the second-screen narrative.

At least one agency exec said they’ve received Super Bowl incentives from several platforms, though the exec declined to name the platforms or exact incentives.

The social landscape has spread marketers thin, stretching Super Bowl playbooks across several platforms, including X, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and even owned channels. Microsites, for example. 

“Our brands are taking a multi-platform approach to game day so we can amplify our main message throughout the night, and be ready for any opportunity that may present itself for more eyes and engagement,” Kathleen Wisniewski, strategy director of social platforms at McKinney ad agency, said in an email. McKinney is the creative agency behind the Little Caesars Super Bowl ad this year.

Wisniewski added that the agency will be on Instagram and TikTok with pre-planned content and reacting in the comment sections. The agency while also be active on X during the Big Game.

Instacart has a similar approach, aiming to reach shoppers across Instagram and TikTok leading up to, during and immediately after the Super Bowl. To amplify its 30-second spot this year, Instacart has paid ads across TikTok, Meta, Snapchat and YouTube, according to an Instacart spokesperson. 

HexClad, the direct-to-consumer cookware brand that has its first Super Bowl spot this year, is also working across all the major social media platforms to give its ad featuring Gordon Ramsay surround-sound treatment. 

“It is a multi-platform [approach] because some people want have their go-to [social media platform], some people are everywhere,” said Daniel Winer, CEO and co-founder of HexClad, adding that it makes amplifying a Big Game spot and participating in real time conversations more difficult than it has ever been. 

He added, “We have to be respectful of each platform and we have to take the time to engage with each consumer, or potential consumer, in the way they like to be dealt with on that platform.” 

Notably, X has spent the last year playing tug-of-war with advertisers. Last year, advertisers were still largely turning toward the platform for real-time conversation during the Super Bowl. To put some numbers to it, the Super Bowl was mentioned on X nearly 5 million times, according to data provided to Digiday by social media analytics company Sprout Social. In comparison, Super Bowl was mentioned on Reddit more than 4,600 times and YouTube just over 2,000 times. (It’s unclear what engagement looked like for Meta platforms as those figures were not available.)

This year, expect to see some advertisers continue to leverage the platform for those real-time conversations and cultural moments, according to two out of the eight marketers Digiday spoke with for this story.

“The Super Bowl second screen will be a series of screens that shift throughout the game,” Dan Ripes, vp of client services at Rise, Quad digital marketing agency’s media arm, said in an email to Digiday. X, Ripes added, may still reign as the real-time hub, but reactions and reenactments from the Super Bowl are no longer limited to the platform, springing up everywhere from TikTok to Reddit. “Ultimately the Super Bowl is for everyone, but media is personal.”

For those who thought TikTok would become the replacement for real time conversation on X, the recent ban may be a reason to reconsider. Last year, clients sunk resources into TikTok and YouTube Shorts as the second screen for live events, according to Nicole Penn, CEO of EGC Group marketing agency. This year, in light of the TikTok ban, clients have shifted dollars to YouTube Shorts and other short-form video platforms like Instagram Reels for marketing in general.

“[Consumers have] their second screen of choice,” said Marcelo Pascoa, vp of marketing at Coors Light, which has a spot in this year’s Super Bowl. “That’s how we’ve been thinking about it.” The goal is to have strategies for all of them, Pascoa added. “But, most importantly, the content has to be magnetic enough to get people talking and then they will talk about it,” he said. 

Kristina Monllos contributed reporting.