APM Research Lab measures public impressions of Super Bowl LIII host city Atlanta

More than one-third of Americans say they are more likely to think of Atlanta as a good place to visit.ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 25, 2019 – The APM Research Lab has released its results of its 2019 Super Bowl Impressions survey, which seeks the American public’s impressions of this year’s Super Bowl host city, Atlanta. The survey was completed in the week following Super Bowl LIII, which was played Feb. 3 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.Hosting the Super Bowl offers cities a unique opportunity to raise their national profile and impact both awareness and impressions among the American public. As shown in the results of the National Survey of Super Bowl Impressions 2019, more than 6 in 10 adults outside of Georgia could name either the city of Atlanta or the state of Georgia as the host locale for Super Bowl LIII.Additionally, more than one-third of Americans indicated that Super Bowl media coverage improved their impression of Atlanta—at least in terms of whether they consider the city a good place to visit—seven percentage points above the share of Americans who indicated coverage made them less likely to visit.Full results can be found here.“Our primary aim was to discover whether the Super Bowl—and the whirlwind of media and events surrounding it – changes Americans’ impression of the host city,” said Andi Egbert, senior researcher at APM Research Lab. “In this case, Atlanta did see a net benefit as a desirable destination among Americans who don’t live in Georgia.”The survey asked three primary questions:

• Can you tell me what city the Super Bowl was held in this year? If not, how about the state?
• As a result of media coverage of the Super Bowl, are you more or less likely to think of Atlanta as a good place to visit?
• What is the main reason you say that?

Key findings include:

• Among those under age 35, only 54 percent were aware of the game’s location. However, roughly 65 percent among those age 35-44, 45-54, or 65+ knew the game’s location, as did 75 percent of Americans 55-64, the most of any age group.
• Non-Hispanic Black Americans were most likely to report improved impressions of the host city following Super Bowl LIII, with 55 percent saying they were more likely to think of Atlanta as a good place to visit. This is significantly higher than the share of White non-Hispanic Americans (31 percent) who said so.
• Of those who were “more likely” to think of Atlanta as a good place to visit, 23 percent mentioned their own personal familiarity with the area, often through connections with family, friends, or work as reasons to see Atlanta as desirable destination for visiting (again). Another 20 percent of the “more likely” group named attractions offered in Atlanta as motivating reasons to visit, such as musical history, historical sites, food and aquarium.

This is the second year APM Research Lab has surveyed Americans’ impressions on the Super Bowl host city. The 2018 game was held in Minneapolis, and results from that survey can be found here.The APM Research Lab is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research’s Transparency Initiative, committed to open and transparent reporting of survey methods and findings. Authored jointly by Craig Helmstetter and Andi Egbert of the APM Research Lab, this survey was funded through internal resources and was not conducted on behalf of or in conjunction with any other entity or initiative.The 2019 National Survey of Super Bowl Impressions was conducted as a part of a national omnibus survey conducted by SSRS of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. The survey was conducted via telephone, 60 percent via cell phone and 40 percent landline, with 970 adult Americans living outside of Georgia on February 5-10, 2019. (Super Bowl LIII was held on February 3, 2019). The survey’s overall margin of error is +/-3.6 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.Additional details about survey methodology can be found here. ###About American Public MediaAmerican Public Media® is the national programming division of Minnesota Public Radio® and reaches 20 million listeners via 1,000 radio stations nationwide each week. APM is one of the largest producers and distributors of public radio programming in the world, with a portfolio that includes BBC World Service, Marketplace®, and the leading classical music programs in the nation. APM offers a diverse array of podcasts featuring the best in food, culture, entertainment, business and investigative journalism. For more information on APM, visit americanpublicmedia.org.Source: Data are copyright Nielsen Audio. Data are estimates only.About the APM Research LabThe APM Research Lab is a division of American Public Media aimed at informing the public by producing credible research- and analysis- based content. The Research Lab conducts research projects of all types — surveys, demographic analyses, literature reviews, and more — and informs the work of partner organizations and the broader public through traditional reports, as well as infographics, blog posts, interactives, presentations, and other platforms. For more information, visit apmresearchlab.org