As part of its continued effort to win back ad partners, at least half of whom have reportedly reduced their spending in the app due to concerns around brand safety, X has today outlined its Super Bowl LVIII engagement stats, which it claims broke various usage records in the app.

As per X:

“Super Bowl LVIII was one of the biggest ever on X – completely smashing key metrics from last year, with impressions, user posts and video views rising 31%, 41% and 75% respectively YoY1. With an epic overtime game delivering a huge surge in visibility and engagement, brands on X also rose to the occasion. We saw 77% of brands that advertised on-air during the game also share their campaigns on X.”

Okay, so I would have some skepticism around the video views stat in particular, considering X's questionable track record on how it both measures and reports view counts. With that in mind, a 75% increase is a significant jump, but the others are likely in line with broader trends around the Super Bowl, especially given the extra boost that the Taylor Swift storyline has provided.

The numbers also suggest that, despite broader concerns among certain communities, sports discussion remains strong in the app, with embedded sports communities still heavily aligned to the platform for live updates and interaction.

Which is reflected in this data, showing that X remains the go-to platform of choice for real-time chatter. And while other apps, like Meta’s Threads, are trying to get in on the action, changing user behaviors will be difficult, especially given that the majority of sports conversation is still happening via tweet. Or post, as it were.

In terms of top mentions, Taylor Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce clearly helped to boost hype around the event.

As you can see in this list, halftime performer Usher also sparked a lot of discussion, as did Beyonce, with her ad spot, in which she revealed a snippet of her new music.

X has also provided a listing of the most discussed elements of the game, based on usage data.

In terms of brand engagement, X says that Verizon won the day, with the most mentions for its Super Bowl campaign.

Other winners were Duolingo for the brand post with the most likes, Mountain Dew for the most video views, and Draft Kings, for the brand without a national TV spot that sparked the most conversation in the app.

It’s good to see X sharing more insight like this once again, as under Elon Musk, the platform has been seemingly hesitant, thus far, to make much of a push on winning over ad partners by showcasing the potential of the app.

That could be due to Musk’s own dislike of ads, or the fact that X had been hoping to further augment its income streams through user subscriptions, in order to reduce its reliance on ad partners. But either way, insights like this provide some more perspective on the value of X for promotions.

I mean, a lot of brands are still not going to come back to the platform due to Musk’s own controversial posts and comments. But for those who are looking to reach the app’s audience, especially around live events, this is valuable info to have.

Can X win back ad partners, and get its ad business back on track?

Really, a lot still comes down to Musk himself, who’s the most followed user in the app, and arguably the most influential. As such, what he shares with his X audience matters a lot, and as he continues to push his free speech agenda, that will remain a key challenge for X to overcome in winning over big advertisers at the least.

You can read X’s full Super Bowl rundown here.