February Portal Trend Snapshot
Here’s the latest buzz.
Conspiracy
There’s been plenty of conspiracy theories surrounding the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the aviation pioneer and the first woman to fly over the Atlantic Ocean. It appears the mystery behind her disappearance is about to be solved, and people are really talking about it.
Earhart is up 521% in online chatter, as is her navigator Fred Noonan. That’s because Earhart’s plane has potentially been discovered, 16,000 feet down in the Pacific Ocean (which means her craft sank deeper than the Titanic). This story has clearly caught people’s attention – and it’s the kind of unique talking point, filtered by our Audience Discovery Portal, that makes us seek out news we might have otherwise missed!
Controversy
Oh boy, we’re going to tread very carefully here, but negative stories can cause as much online talk as positive ones (sometimes more).
Whether it’s Megan Thee Stallion’s (up 222%) online beef with Nicki Minaj, WrestleMania (up 106%) hitting the news because of the accusations against Vince McMahon (up 436%), Justin Timberlake’s (up 115%) trials and tribulations as his new song Selfish hits the charts (as Britney Spears selflessly apologizes for embarrassing him in her autobiography), it seems audiences have plenty to say about all of these current controversies.
Chuck E Cheese?!!
Chuck E Cheese has climbed the chat charts, and not because Gen Z have suddenly discovered the actual inspiration for Five Nights at Freddy’s. No, the pizza / fun slinger has moved into the game show space, with a concept involving physical challenges based on arcade games, aimed at adults, which is blowing the cheese out of people’s minds.
The brand is up an impressive 292% on our portal, which means companies should probably start thinking about TV concepts that could work for them. Maybe Sesame Street should consider it. After going viral on X, the show was up 146%. Talk show for Elmo, maybe?
Superbowl
Superbowl LVIII (up 290%) provided plenty of talking points. The Black Eyed Peas surfaced as an early trend up 165% after will.i.am made an appearance at halftime. In fact, halftime was trending higher than the Superbowl itself! The Portal picked up other VIPs including Andy Reid, Alicia Keys, Blake Lively, Travis Kelce, Lil Jon, Harrison Butker, Patrick Mahomes, Usher, and Post Malone. There seems to be a Blank Space in this list…
Grammys
As you’d might expect, the Grammy’s got a lot of online attention this month, but what’s especially fascinating is that people appear to be ready for something new. The Grammy Award for Best New Artist was up 88%, just behind the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, at 99%. Those were the categories that people cared about, with The Recording Academy, who chose the awards, up an astonishing 204%.
