Insights from Rihanna's Super Bowl background

Rihanna's Super Bowl Show research background

Rihanna; Photo Courtesy of Apple Music

Emotional Insights from Rihanna's Super Bowl Show

February 17th, 2023
Category: Research, Blog

Rihanna's Super Bowl market research mobile background

Did We Expect That?

Using the Wantent Platform, we conducted a market research study evaluating audience perception of Rihanna's Super Bowl performance. We are excited to share our findings. Overall, we found that the performance was highly captivating, with 86% of the audience enjoying it. This is due to popular song selection. Women showed higher engagement, positive emotions, and empathy levels than male viewers. Males reported being bored and expressed negative emotions during moments of sexual dances, notably when Rihanna revealed her pregnancy.
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The Fenty Beauty integration was well-received, and the dynamic Apple Music logo had a positive impact on recognition and visibility throughout the performance. We also found that the performance had a high promotional rate of 47%, primarily among female viewers.

IMAGE LEFT: CHRISTOPHER POLK//GETTY IMAGES 
IMAGE RIGHT: GETTY IMAGES

IMAGE LEFT: CHRISTOPHER POLK//GETTY IMAGES
 IMAGE RIGHT: GETTY IMAGES

Top Insights

Rihanna's performance was highly captivating. This is primarily due to the popular song selection that attracted the audience.
Overall, 86% of the audience enjoyed the performance, and women showed higher levels of audience engagement, positive emotions, and empathy.
In contrast, men appeared to be bored and lacked empathy. They exhibited negative emotions during moments of sexual dancing and Rihanna's pregnancy reveal. Two peaks of maximum engagement were observed during the performance.
The Fenty Beauty integration received significant attention without eliciting any negative reactions.
The dynamic Apple Music logo displayed at the beginning of the performance had a positive impact on brand recognition and visibility throughout the performance.
Rihanna's Halftime Show had a high promotional rate of 47%, primarily among female viewers.

Evaluation of engagement and emotions

Our revolutionary AI-powered tools allow us to test marketing and production stages using an emotion recognition approach. This content-testing technology can recognize viewers’ empathy, generate recommendations and insights, and interpret results according to world-class storytelling practices.

Rihanna's performance was captivating due to the popular song selection that generated high audience attention. There were two peaks of maximum audience engagement observed. One during "Work" and "Wild Thoughts" and the second during "Run This Town," "Umbrella," and "Diamonds."

The song "Umbrella" elicited the highest audience engagement and empathy, and "Work" generated the most positive emotions. The female audience showed higher levels of engagement, positive emotions, and empathy. On the other hand, the male audience engagement was lower and included more negative emotions and a lack of empathy, particularly during sexual dances and Rihanna's pregnancy reveal.

Apple Music Logo

The dynamic logo display at the beginning increased brand recognition and visibility throughout the performance. The logo was displayed ten times for 152 seconds, or 18% of the show.

Our market research revealed that the logo was most visible during the following songs: “Bitch Better Have My Money,” “Where Have You Been,” “All of the Lights,” and “Run This Town.”
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In the heat maps, the lower left sector displays the concentration level of visual attention on the logos.

Fenty Beauty

The integration of the Fenty Beauty product garnered significant audience engagement and did not elicit any adverse reactions from the audience.

The content production with a symmetrical frame composition ensured maximum focus on Rihanna and the product.

Please note that all photos used in this post are for informational and educational purposes only. These images are not being used for commercial purposes, and are intended solely to illustrate the results of research. We do not claim ownership or authorship of any of the photos used in this post, and all credit goes to their respective owners.