Brands running online advertising and social media campaigns experienced an uplift during London 2012, with search volumes being higher than those seen during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Google has found.
One company that benefitted from the Olympics was Visa with its ‘Go World’ campaign, which invited consumers to show their support for Team Visa athletes in the form of virtual cheers across social media.
It experienced more than 59 million cheers over social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, while its YouTube channel accounted for 47 million views of its adverts and athlete training videos since it launched in February.
Google also revealed that Lloyds TSB Bank, a presenting partner of the Olympic torch relay, enjoyed a successful AdWords campaign.
It kept pace with the torch as it travelled through UK towns, which resulted in more than 190,000 clicks and two million impressions over three months.
The search engine giant also looked at how people experienced the Games and found that many turned to one or more ‘second screens’ beyond TV to keep up-to-date with London 2012.
Nearly half (44 per cent) used a smartphone or tablet device to keep in touch with the sporting event.