UMD Technology Measures Super Bowl Reactions in Real Time

University of Maryland Professor Philip Resnik's React Labs is partnering with Frank N. Magid Associates this Sunday to take a comprehensive, real-time look at how consumers Engage with the Super Bowl and its advertising. The research will use React Lab's innovative mobile technology - developed at the University of Maryland - to measure how engaged viewers are, their reaction to the Super Bowl and its commercials, and if they plan to buy any of the products advertised.

The React Labs technology utilizes a mobile app that enables users to react to an event moment by moment. The new real-time polling platform captures viewer engagement with what they're watching, while simultaneously collecting temporally fine-grained, interpretable data about their responses.

"React Labs harnesses the potential of mobile technology to tap into people's immediate, unmediated responses to what they're seeing and hearing," says Professor Philip Resnik, founder of Bethesda-based React Labs.

Resnik holds joint appointments at Maryland in the Department of Linguistics and at the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS).

"Our goal for this project is to build a platform that seamlessly integrates with how consumers watch and react to major media events like the Super Bowl," he says.

The technology was last used to judge reactions during the presidential debates at the University of Maryland and other colleges and universities across the U.S.

This is the first time it has been used with a Super Bowl.

"We want to measure everything from the game itself, to Beyonce's half time show, to the all-important commercials," says Magid Executive Director Bill Day. "Online polls and social TV during the game only scratch the surface of what we can learn about how people really Engage with the Super Bowl."

Leveraging its domain expertise in content development and advertising effectiveness, Frank N. Magid Associates will provide a comprehensive view of the game, the ads and consumers' engagement with both. Magid's advertising experts will be available to provide instant analysis of the impact of this premier marketing event.

Additionally, a full graphics package, custom data sets and expert opinions will be available to selected media outlets in advance and immediately after Sunday's game.