Super Bowl experience begins long before kickoff for fans and brands

"Just placing a commercial -- debuting or recycled -- in the Super Bowl doesn't cut it in this highly competitive environment, and that's both for sales in the marketplace and for consumer attention," says Hamula. "Pre-event leaking can garner a brand huge publicity through 'likes' and viral sharing on Facebook and Twitter, all of which more involves consumers, provides measurable results and creates momentum that can propel the commercial to achieve even higher viewership during, and after, the Super Bowl."

An associate professor and chair of the Department of Strategic Communication in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College, Hamula says that just because Super Bowl viewers may already have seen the ad elsewhere doesn't mean these fans will be taking advantage of commercial breaks to take a bathroom break.

"Just the opposite, in fact. This is the payoff. This is what they've been waiting for -- the opportunity to see the ad air during the game and feel that in some way they were a part of making it happen."

Hamula notes that the recently announced formation of Nielsen Twitter TV Rating is one response to this growing trend of so-called second screen experiences. The new product will deliver a real-time social metric for measuring the dialogue and chatter on Twitter that is a result of television program viewing.

"Twitter is continuing to emerge as the go-to vehicle for expressing your thoughts about what you're seeing on TV."