Web traffic rose during Super Bowl with clear calls to action

The Akamai Net Usage Index for Advertising tracks traffic to a group of 21 of their customer websites. The real-time tracking tool shows the immediate effectiveness of advertising calls to action and their effect on site web traffic.

During the game results showed that web traffic averaged around 160,000 visitors per minute, as opposed to an average of 80,000 in the previous two to three weeks. During the last fifteen minutes of the game the visitors per minute rate was at its highest at 282,546, the majority of which were from the U.S.

Not unsurprisingly, those advertisers that specifically directed people to websites saw the most immediate response. But not all advertisers had paid enough attention to ensuring their online presence was clear, had poorly integrated broadcast and online activities, or failed to promote it at all, including big names such as Revlon and PNC Bank.

"Multi-channel advertisements are just one part of the convergence between TV and Internet audiences, bringing rich, interactive video content to the Internet and engaging consumers for an extended period of time," said Brad Rinklin, vice president of marketing at Akamai. "With this, scalability and technology infrastructure become critical, especially to support traffic spikes during large-scale advertising campaigns. While investing millions of dollars in high-end TV commercials, companies must extend and leverage these assets across new channels – and ensure reliability and a positive user experience via a digital media platform."

Tags: advertising trends, integrated advertising campaigns, online advertising, website