NCAA March Madness on Facebook: Which Bracket is Most Popular?

March Madness has arrived—the time when Bracketology becomes an accepted form of science. Analysts and fans alike continue their last minute dissections, searching for something that could signal an upset (we’re looking at you Syracuse). Users of Facebook are no different, taking to the platform in hordes to discuss each team and hurl a few well placed insults at their peers from other schools. Freecast has taken advantage of the interest on Facebook, and partnered with TNT, TBS, TruTV and CBS to stream all the games live onto Facebook.

So, who is interested in March Madness on Facebook? We dove into our Facebook campaign data to find out.

Facebook Predicts the New Hampshire Primary Winner

Culminating with two Republican debates over the weekend, one of which was hosted by Facebook, there has been some serious campaigning over the last few months in our neighboring state of New Hampshire. The first in a series of nationwide Republican party elections, the New Hampshire primary garners considerable press coverage and is viewed by many as a strong indicator of how candidates will perform over the course of the entire campaign.

With New Hampshire voters flocking to the polls throughout today, we turned to Facebook and our Ad Engine to predict the winner, as judged by interest in the candidates on Facebook by New Hampshire residents. The result:

As political polls and analysts also predict, Mitt Romney comes out on top in our Facebook analysis (note: Romney has a summer home in New Hampshire). He is also the only candidate who comes close to competing with President Obama on Facebook, the presumed Democratic candidate that will run alongside the winning Republican candidate in the 2012 Presidential Election. A runner up, with approximately half the reach of Romney, is Ron Paul. Newt Gingrich falls in third place, with a quarter of the interest Paul enjoys. Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum round out the bottom three in the race.

Momentum

Which candidate seems to have the most momentum across the United States? In September we looked at each candidates’ interest base on Facebook, and below shows growth since: