Social media, gaming and weather applications are the top categories that consumers are most likely to be using while watching Sunday's big football game, according to a new study from Soasta.

Soasta?s new Super Bowl Second Screen study looks specifically at how consumers will use their smartphones and tablets for multitasking during the coveted advertising mecca of the Super Bowl. The study was conducted online from Jan. 14 ? 16 and surveyed 2,035 adults, 1,289 of whom owned smartphones and tablets.

?Our data shows that the second screen experience is gaining traction every year with big sporting events,? said Peter Galvin, senior vice president of marketing at Soasta, Mountain View, CA.

?For example, look at Richard Sherman?s outburst in the NFC championship, which garnered 2.2 million tweets in the 10 hours after the game,? he said. ?It?s clear that fans are relying more and more on their smartphones and tablets, not just TV, to experience these events.?

Distracted mobile users
Fifty-three percent of mobile owners in the study cited social media as the most critical way to use a mobile device while watching the Super Bowl, highlighting the significant role that mobile devices play in how consumers access Facebook and Twitter.

Only 22 percent of mobile users said that following the game via their mobile device was the most important use of mobile during the Super Bowl. Tracking player and game statistics was favored by 17 percent of mobile owners.

Ordering food was deemed critical by 12 percent of smartphone owners and 11 percent of consumers pinpointed either games or checking their work email as top priorities during the game.

The study then took a deeper look at the group of mobile owners who specifically said that they would be watching the game while using an app.

In Soasta?s study, 27 percent of the app-using consumers said that they would be plugged into social media apps while watching the game. 

Unsurprisingly, Candy Crush and Angry Birds were the most requested apps. Eighteen percent of consumers said that they would play either Candy Crush or Angry Birds during the Super Bowl.

Weather apps are planned to be used by 16 percent of app users.

Fifteen percent of app-touting consumers planned to access sports apps, and 13 planned to view news apps.

Other top app categories include video, food delivery, gambling, fantasy football and dating apps.

Other key findings from the study include that 56 percent of millennial women who own mobile devices will multi-task from their smartphones and tablets while watching the game.

Compared to past years, what is different this year with Super Bowl advertising is the bigger emphasis that marketers are taking to connect big-budget TV spots and digital components.

"It?s a different opportunity as there is tighter integration between the TV viewing experience, Super Bowl specific apps  ? or event specific apps ? and social media campaigns by brands," Mr. Galvin said.

Bringing together mobile audiences
At the same time that Soasta?s findings indicate that mobile's role will grow for the Super Bowl this year, iTV has rolled out a new second-screen app as part of its GetGlue acquisition.

GetGlue was acquired by iTV in November with the goal of scaling up an audience of second-screen app users.

Tvtag is a second-screen mobile app that lets consumers share what they are watching on TV through a feed that pulls in comments, emotes and doodles.

GetGlue is now integrated into the tvtag mobile app, and consumers with the GetGlue app will be prompted to download tvtag.

Additionally, GetGlue sent out an email to its users explaining how tvtag works.

Similar to GetGlue?s original premise around rewarding consumers who use the app in tandem with TV programming, consumers can still check-in to programs via the app to unlock digital stickers. However, tvtag will not dole out physical stickers, as GetGlue did.

Compared to some of the challenges that other second-screen apps experience, tvtag is aiming to differentiate itself by playing up certain behaviors, such as searching, that lend themselves more to second-screen viewing.

?Instead of being in a big chat room where people are talking about the show generally or a football game, in this context everyone stays in the conversation that?s important to them,? said Brad Pelo, CEO of iTV, Provo, UT.

?So maybe you go back into a show and jump into a conversation around a story point that happened five or ten minutes ago or talk during a commercial break, but they can also stay current with whatever people are talking about in this moment,? he said.