Effect of Super Bowl XLIX on Web Traffic

We recently reported the effect of the Super Bowl on our clients' web traffic.

On average, our online retailer clients experienced a 13% decline in web traffic on February 1, 2015, Super Bowl Sunday.  Compared to prior "typical" Sundays, tablet traffic declined the most at -15%.  Desktops were -12.75% and mobile was least affected at -11%.

We compared hour of day AdWords traffic for a client in the Home and Garden industry, and noted a steep decline at pre-game and at kick-off:

Super Bowl XLIX vs Prior Sunday

Interestingly, hourly sessions tracked a very similar path when compared to SuperBowl 48 on February, 2, 2014:

Super Bowl 49 vs Super Bowl 48

In addition to a steep decline in all traffic sources, conversion rates and average order sizes suffered.  We will use this information to improve our Super Bowl Sunday promotions next year!