Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl XX marked two decades of the most adorable competition in sports, delivering a three-hour tentpole event that showcased 131 puppies from 73 shelters and rescues across 36 states. The multiplatform and social team played a crucial role in amplifying the event’s impact by driving awareness, maximizing engagement, and reinforcing the importance of pet adoption.
Our primary objectives were threefold: increase visibility for pet adoption efforts, drive tune-in to the expanded multi-cast event airing across four networks and two streaming services, and enhance fan engagement through compelling digital and social content. By leveraging a dynamic mix of short-form videos, interactive experiences, and real-time coverage, we ensured that Puppy Bowl extended beyond linear TV and resonated across multiple digital touchpoints. Strategic partnerships and celebrity collaborations helped broaden our reach and ensured we energized animal lovers from all corners of the internet.
Additionally, elements such as fan-voted MVP (Most Valuable Puppy), Pupularity Playoff Bracket experience, and Adoption Match partnership with Best Friends Animal Society reinforced our core mission: celebrating rescue pets and encouraging real-world impact. By fostering a strong sense of community across platforms, we ensured that Puppy Bowl XX wasn’t just an event—it was a movement that inspired action, deepened fan participation, and championed the power of pet adoption.
With a three-hour simulcast across Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, and TruTV, discovery+, and Max, the campaign was built around three core pillars: tune-in promotion, fan engagement, and adoption advocacy.
A custom robust social asset suite was developed, produced, and created entirely by the small internal team, and included social-first video series like “Stadium Arrivals,” “Pregame Rituals,” “Tiny Mic” memes, countdown GFX, player cards, and bespoke “Barking News” assets for partners to post. Interactive assets like Stickers, GIFs, and AR filters were strategically created to allow fans to get in on the fun, as did major digital activation, Pupularity Playoffs, which is an interactive bracket challenge where fans vote for their favorite starting line-up pup in a 5-week-long competition. This campaign drove over 1.1 million votes, the highest ever for the competition, with sponsored elements across Puppybowl.com, social, and on-air. PuppyBowl.com was built for superfans, including the aforementioned bracket experience, Meet the Players galleries, Superfan UGC hub, and galleries promoting the kittens and pups featured in Puppy Bowl that were still up for adoption. This drew 27.4M total pageviews during the campaign period.
By leveraging key partnerships, totaling 530M+ in combined social audience, we extended our reach significantly. Influencer activations included Pro Football Hall of Fame, Baltimore Ravens athletes Zay Flowers and Patrick Queen, San Francisco 49ers, Guy Fieri, Miranda Lambert, Southwest Airlines, and major WBD portfolio brands like Cartoon Network, Food Network, and Bleacher Report. To boost adoption efforts, we also partnered with Best Friends Animal Society, where we helped animals find their loving homes by waiving adoption fees at participating shelters from Feb.7-14th 2024 and amplifying a call to donate to Help Save Them All! The adoption CTA was integrated into all platforms, ensuring maximum exposure for shelters and rescues, leading to more than 5000 pet adoptions.
Paid social efforts were also a major driver of success, with campaigns running across Meta, TikTok, and Pinterest. The campaign as a whole drove 47.5M+ impressions.
On gameday, Puppy Bowl maximized social engagement with the #PuppyBowl hashtag featured on-air, sparking a surge in fan participation. Live tweeting from Animal Planet and Discovery kept the conversation active, while the MVP opinion poll on X/Twitter drove nearly 10K votes. In-show bumps showcased superfan pet photos, leading to a significant increase in user-generated content. Commercial squeezes highlighted real-time viewer reactions and coordinated partner posts on the morning of the game amplified excitement across platforms. Additionally, GIPHY stickers trended on Instagram Stories, X, and GIPHY.com, further extending the digital footprint. Efforts culminated in the #PuppyBowl hashtag peaking at #2 on X’s trending list, with live tweets from Animal Planet and Discovery amplifying engagement.
Challenges & How We Overcame Them
Puppy Bowl XX delivered record-breaking results across platforms, reaffirming its status as a must-watch event. Airing across Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, and TruTV, it was the highest-rated telecast of the day on February 11, 2023, ranking #1 among W2+ and the top non-sports cable telecast across key demos, including P/M/W25-54, P/M/W18-49, and P/M/W18-34. It also dominated as the #1 non-sports/news cable telecast among P/M2+, with APL’s linear premiere up double digits year-over-year.
On social, engagement soared to new heights, with 38.8M video views (+65% YoY) and an astounding 4.2B social footprint on gameday. These results underscore Puppy Bowl’s continued growth, proving that after 20 years, the brand remains as engaging and culturally relevant as ever.
