'Whitney Did It, Too': Lip Syncing Not Knocking Luster Off Beyonce Halftime Show

Leading up last year's Super Bowl, Ad Age worked with Networked Insights, a leading social-media analytics company that advises brands and agencies on media planning, to track social sentiment surrounding Madonna's halftime show. Though the Material Girl largely ended up redeeming herself with an age-defying, hyper-athletic extravaganza -- which included that bizarre nut-bouncing tightrope guy (see: "Super Bowl Slack Line Guy Andy Lewis -- Don't Worry, My Nads Are Fine!") -- there was a lot of negativity beforehand. The reception for Beyonce has been considerably warmer -- though the controversy over her lip syncing of the National Anthem at President Barack Obama's inauguration has muddied the picture somewhat. Scroll down below the graphic for some notes.

• Networked Insights tracks sentiment across the social web, including Twitter and Facebook, as well as forums and blog posts. In general, more people (19% of the total) talking about Beyonce in relation to her coming Super Bowl gig are positive about it than negative (4%), while 77% are neutral -- i.e., they haven't been expressing strong opinions one way or another.
• Given that Beyonce's halftime show seems pretty certain to include a Destiny's Child reunion, fans have been taking to social media to discuss the girl group's latest song, "Nuclear" (consensus: It's disappointing), as well as classics like "Bootylicious" and "Survivor."
• Fans of Beyonce who mention her in social media along with the brands she's associated with seem most aware -- by a wide margin -- that she's a Pepsi spokesperson.
• Networked Insights also tracked social-media conversations about Beyonce specifically in the wake of her performance of the National Anthem at President Barack Obama's inauguration. Some 31% of such conversations mentioned the lip-syncing controversy, but fans didn't necessarily condemn her for it. ("Whitney Houston did it, too" was a common refrain, as people pointed out that Houston's legendary Super Bowl XXV National Anthem performance was also lip synced.) Among those mentioning Beyonce's Super Bowl performance, only 13% were concerned about whether she'd lip sync again. And, hey, let's get real: If her performance is as dance-tastic (er, bootylicious) as we've come to expect, she'd be crazy not to lip sync -- unless everybody wants to hear hoarse, winded renditions of "Love on Top" and "Single Ladies."

Simon Dumenco is the "Media Guy" columnist for Advertising Age. You can follow him on Twitter @simondumenco. Follow Networked Insights on Twitter @NetInsights.