• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer, February 9, 2015

According to Flurry, the messaging app category proved the big mobile media winner during last week’s Super Bowl. In its minute-by-minute tracking of over 630,000 apps during the game, the Yahoo-owned company said that messaging apps indexed considerably higher than apps overall.

People clearly were extending their game-day parties by reaching out to other friends and family during the game. In fact, app usage generally was higher during the game than is typical on a Sunday.

What was most interesting in these metrics, however, was the ebb and flow of app traffic as different things happened on the TV screen. Most notably, app and messaging usage plummeted 20% during Katy Perry’s half-time show as viewers were fully engaged by a robotic tiger and left-hand sharks -- but appeared to burst into social media activity immediately after, with app activity that peaked at 20% above average.

This same sort of engagement and response occurred in key ad spots. The Budweiser puppy ad spot saw a 7% or 8% drop in phone activity but an immediate 5% spike afterwards. The Budweiser Pac Man ad lulled app activity with an immediate spike afterwards. Interestingly, the most app activity followed the Nick Offerman NASCAR spot, which produced the highest (22%) spike of mobile activity.

Obviously there is a complex rhythm to the dance users have with their two screens during events, which opens up a new set of user modes to consider as well as a more granular understanding of timings. When are users too engaged with the first screen to be bothered with the second? When are they in a conversational mode about first-screen content and perhaps most willing to get more on the second screen? How much do marketers really want to interrupt a messaging flow in the user’s control, usually comprised of short text blurbs among friends?

I think traditional mass media interruptive advertising is anathema to this emerging pattern of media consumption. Traditional ads are a relic of broadcasting and its captive audience patterns of media consumption. Advertiser messages need a better way of weaving into the ebb and flow of personal media usage, which is characterized by individual control of the experience.

I think time-shifted ad messaging is more aligned with mobile usage. If Apple and Google really want to help along the mobile marketing ecosystem, perhaps they should build into their OSes a “save for later” bookmarking function that applies to ads as well as content. Then let advertisers really step up to the plate with offers, experiences, real added value that people want to engage with when they're in the right mode.