This Was the Most-Hated Super Bowl Ad of 2015 (Yes, Offically)
by Andy Neuenschwander
Whether you were watching the game or just the commercials, this year's Super Bowl was an emotional rollercoaster. There was one particular moment, though, that people hated more than any other in the broadcast.
Yep, it was that Nationwide Insurance ad.
The commercial featured a young boy telling us how he would never travel around the world, get married, or learn to fly because he died in a childhood accident. The commercial's twist was jarring for viewers, and it almost immediately became a meme.
Now, thanks to Twitter, we know that the Nationwide ad was officially the most hated ad that aired during the Super Bowl. Data pulled from Twitter users' emotional tweets (tweets in which they expressed an emotion about what was happening on screen) reveals that 40% of users hated the commercial, the biggest percentage of haters of any ad.
The much-talked-about ad has now amassed over 5 million views on YouTube, in large part due to the controversy around it.
The ad wasn't nearly the most talked-about moment in the broadcast, though: that honor goes to the Patriots' interception at the 1-yard line at the end of the game, which cause 395,000 tweets per minute. That was followed in popularity by the Patriots actually winning the Super Bowl, followed by Katy Perry's halftime performance.
The game itself broke a ratings record on television, earning an average of 114.4 million viewers with a peak near 128 million, making it the most-watch television event in history.