‘Puppy Bowl’ Takes Bite Out of Social Media on Super Bowl Sunday

Animal Planet’s annual Puppy Bowl special on Sunday was the TV's most talked about entertainment show via social media on a day dominated by Super Bowl LI, according to Nielsen.

Puppy Bowl XIII drew 561,000 interactions on Facebook and Twitter from 471,000 unique social media accounts to lead all entertainment shows on Sunday, according to Nielsen’s daily Social Content Ratings report. Fox’s post-Super Bowl airing of 24:Legacy finished second with 128,000 social interactions, followed by Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and PBS’ Victoria On Masterpiece and Mercy Street, said Nielsen.

Not suprisingly, Fox’s coverage of the New England Patriots’ historic come-from-behind win over the Atlanta Falcons during Super Bowl LI drew the most social media interactions for a live sports event with a whopping 190 million Facebook and Twitter interactions from more than 48 million unique social media accounts, according to Nielsen.  

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.