• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, May 18, 2016

Jumping off key events in pop culture, AppNexus on Wednesday released its Q1 2016 Index, an analysis of more than 9.4 trillion impressions that were available on the AppNexus platform during Q1.

Among the Index’s key findings:

• The Super Bowl proved to be a big winner online for food/drink and travel verticals, seeing upwards of 60% and 180% increases, respectively.

• Queen “B” offered a big surprise: Beyonce’s surprise song release and Super Bowl performance increased spending in the music category to nearly three times their normal levels.

• NCAA’s March Madness was a strong predictor of other upcoming sporting events that last longer than one game, particularly with an eye toward the Olympics and Euro soccer tournament.

• In presidential politics, there were dramatic spikes following debates and primaries, with the highlight being a 52.4% increase after the Republican debate March 3rd, which included name-calling, among other things.

“Quadrennial years like 2016 are exciting for marketers. Brands and agencies will have a chance to engage consumers around a series of highly watched sports and new events.  To help them prepare for this opportunity, we looked at Q1’s NCAA tournament and Super Bowl as a test case to understand how advertisers can get the most bang for their buck in anticipation of the Summer Olympics, Euro tournament, and U.S. presidential election," Pat McCarthy, SVP of marketing at AppNexus, told Real-Time Daily via email.

The AppNexus data set included campaigns run by 1,506 buyers and 793 sellers.