| Scoreboard for Sun. Feb. 3, 2008 |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 79.48 | 4.66 | 3.92 | 2.30 | .84 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 31.4/62 | 0.8/2 | 1.2/2 | 0.8/2 | 0.2/0 |
Although from my perspective as a sports fan, the game was exceedingly dull with absolutely no flow at all until the 4th quarter, it was all that FOX could have asked for in terms of outcome. The game was close the entire way with the chance for a perfect 19-0 season for the New England Patriots going down pretty much to the wire. It was not to be, for the Patriots, but while it produced great numbers, it doesn’t appear FOX will break any records. For the 7p-10pm portion of the game, it averaged 89.1 million viewers. Keep in mind the numbers will surely go up when the 6:18-7pm portion is added in, but it appears neither on pace to break 100 million viewers or even beat LAST year’s performance.
Update: Nielsen reports that the game averaged more than 97.5 million viewers for the entire game– which although unofficial, would beat last years game, and be a record in terms of total viewers. The 97.5 million figure represents the game’s average viewership during any given minute. Nielsen reports a total of 148.3 million watched at least some part of the game. Verdict: Super!
Keep reading for more commentary and the full details…
I agree with Pete Dougherty who suggest that much like the game, FOX’s broadcast of it was flat. I will say for the record, I love Troy Aikmen as a commentator, but have never been a fan of Joe Buck. I don’t like him on the Major League Baseball coverage either. I like him as a person and he’s pretty funny, but as a sports guy – loved his dad, Jack, but I just say no to Joe. Annoying! For me, he is the Bob Costas of the 2000s, only not as entertaining or as good of a broadcaster. I don’t blame Joe B. for the ratings issues though, but can only speculate as to why other network’s coverage of the big game seems to outperform FOX.
History was made regardless, there’s only ever been one 18-1 team that lost a Super Bowl. Sadly, for Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the rest of the Patriots and their fans, the one happened to be in the wrong game.
I wondered what would happen with House being pushed to a 10:30pm start. At least for the first half hour, it scored its highest ratings of the season easily. Only one original episode of House left now. So sad.
You might not believe it, but the other broadcast networks DID air programs, though mostly repeats. Nobody seems to have cared, and neither did we probably to be honest, but here are all of the details for last night anyway:
Note: Numbers for House are only the 10:30pm-11pm portion (first half). Update: Nielsen reports House averaged 29 million viewers and a 12.8 in the 18-49 demo for the whole show. It was FOX’s second highest rated scripted show ever and the best 18-49 performance for a scripted show on FOX since a 11/23/97 airing of The X-Files. The X-Files on 1/26/97 had more viewers, but not as many in the 18-49 demo.
| Time | Network | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share | HH Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:00 | CBS | CBS Reports: Fathers, Sons & Brothers | 3.37 | 0.4/1 | 2.2 |
| ABC | Extreme Makeover: Home Ed (Repeat) | 3.29 | 0.8/2 | 2 | |
| NBC | The Biggest Loser 7p-11p (Repeats) | 2.3 | 0.8/2 | 1.4 | |
| FOX | Super Bowl XLII NY Giants vs. NE Patriots (7p-10p) | 89.1 | 34.8/67 | 46.4 | |
| CW | CW Now | 0.35 | 0.1/0 | 0.4 | |
| 7:30 | CW | Aliens in America (Repeat) | 0.44 | 0.1/0 | 0.5 |
| ABC | Americas Funniest Home Videos (Repeat) | 4.17 | 1.1/2 | 2.6 | |
| 8:00 | CBS | 60 Minutes | 4.99 | 0.8/2 | 3.5 |
| CW | Life is Wild | 0.75 | 0.2/0 | 0.6 | |
| ABC | Movie: Meet the Fockers 8p-11p (Repeat) | 4.12 | 1.4/3 | 2.6 | |
| 9:00 | CBS | Shark (Repeat) | 4.25 | 0.7/1 | 3 |
| CW | Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants (Repeat) | 0.6 | |||
| 10:00 | FOX | Super Bowl XLII Post-game | 68.32 | 28.2/57 | 44 |
| CBS | Cold Case (repeat) | 6.06 | 1.3/3 | 4.6 | |
| 10:30 | FOX | House | 32.78 | 14.4 | 23.1 |
Nielsen Ratings Source: Nielsen Media Research. Full night’s results available via Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
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Two other teams have gone 18-1, the '84 49ers and '85 Bears. And they won the Super Bowl.
indeed, historic only in being the only 18-0 team entering the superbowl.
Hey, I could be wrong, but I live in NY, and I'm pretty sure House didn't start until 11:00 pm. It was slated for 10:15 but FOX just continuously showed post-game interviews and commentary until 11. Personally I think it was a lot more entertaining to watch everyone in the streets of NY going absolutely nuts because we won the SUPER BOWL on the other channels.
Two other teams have gone 18-1, the ‘84 49ers and ‘85 Bears. And they won the Super Bowl.
indeed, historic only in being the only 18-0 team entering the superbowl.
You're not wrong Peter, and probably was the case in Boston and most everywhere else on the east coast as well. I'm not really clear on how Nielsen does the overnight averages in terms of reconciling the different time zones, but the way the info was reported was for 10:30p-11p, and as that's all we had access to, I included it.
And the DVRs of America recorded a lot of partial House episodes last night, because of the over-run.
Hey, I could be wrong, but I live in NY, and I’m pretty sure House didn’t start until 11:00 pm. It was slated for 10:15 but FOX just continuously showed post-game interviews and commentary until 11. Personally I think it was a lot more entertaining to watch everyone in the streets of NY going absolutely nuts because we won the SUPER BOWL on the other channels.
You’re not wrong Peter, and probably was the case in Boston and most everywhere else on the east coast as well. I’m not really clear on how Nielsen does the overnight averages in terms of reconciling the different time zones, but the way the info was reported was for 10:30p-11p, and as that’s all we had access to, I included it.
mine included. #$@%!
And the DVRs of America recorded a lot of partial House episodes last night, because of the over-run.
I agree with the comments on the flatness of the announcing. What was missing for me was an explanation of why the Giants were getting to Brady, given in an entertaining and informative way. This is exactly what Cris Collinsworth brings; I really miss him as part of this team.
In the Washington DC market, House started about 10:40 pm.
mine included. #$@%!
I agree with the comments on the flatness of the announcing. What was missing for me was an explanation of why the Giants were getting to Brady, given in an entertaining and informative way. This is exactly what Cris Collinsworth brings; I really miss him as part of this team.
In the Washington DC market, House started about 10:40 pm.
Wait a second, exactly how many Bill G's are there around here?
Wait a second, exactly how many Bill G’s are there around here?
Robert —
I'm not sure why you emphasized the Fast National numbers yesterday morning, particularly when we know that they are always wildly innacurate for all live programming.
The nets discount these numbers because they are based on time period data across the 55 metered-markets. While we can expect these ratings to be fairly accurate across the Eastern and even Central TZs, all bets are off as you head further West. In LA, for example, yesterday's SB XLII Fast Nats would have actually incorporated a large chunk of the post-game show. This is why yesterday's morning numbers were 10-15% below the final National figures that came in today.
The final numbers were both impressive and historic. The 97.5 million viewers (average audience) represents an all-time high for the Super Bowl and a 5% gain from last year (Colts/Bears). And we shouldn't forget that last season's game was impressive in its own right. With 93.2 million viewers XLI was the most watched game since '96 (Cowboys/Steelers). There is much less volatility from a ratings perspective, where the last 8 Superbowls all fell between a 40.4 and 42.6 Household rtg. XLII came in at a 43.1, the highest rating since Rams-Titans in 2000 (43.3).
Robert —
I’m not sure why you emphasized the Fast National numbers yesterday morning, particularly when we know that they are always wildly innacurate for all live programming.
The nets discount these numbers because they are based on time period data across the 55 metered-markets. While we can expect these ratings to be fairly accurate across the Eastern and even Central TZs, all bets are off as you head further West. In LA, for example, yesterday’s SB XLII Fast Nats would have actually incorporated a large chunk of the post-game show. This is why yesterday’s morning numbers were 10-15% below the final National figures that came in today.
The final numbers were both impressive and historic. The 97.5 million viewers (average audience) represents an all-time high for the Super Bowl and a 5% gain from last year (Colts/Bears). And we shouldn’t forget that last season’s game was impressive in its own right. With 93.2 million viewers XLI was the most watched game since ‘96 (Cowboys/Steelers). There is much less volatility from a ratings perspective, where the last 8 Superbowls all fell between a 40.4 and 42.6 Household rtg. XLII came in at a 43.1, the highest rating since Rams-Titans in 2000 (43.3).
To the real Bill G: You must be my alter-ego living my dream!!
Alex, as with other “media” my goal was simply to get whatever information that was available out there.
I did update as new info became available, but I agree with the comments in your last paragraph. Still, if a team on a historic quest to do something never done only nets a 5%-6% increase in viewership from the previous year… I didn't find the numbers all that impressive vs. last year given the stakes. Still don't.
To the real Bill G: You must be my alter-ego living my dream!!
Alex, as with other “media” my goal was simply to get whatever information that was available out there.
I did update as new info became available, but I agree with the comments in your last paragraph. Still, if a team on a historic quest to do something never done only nets a 5%-6% increase in viewership from the previous year… I didn’t find the numbers all that impressive vs. last year given the stakes. Still don’t.
I hear you Robert, a 5% bump doesn't seem all that huge, but in this case it really was. Unlike most or nearly all television these days, the Superbowl is not all that elastic. There hasn't been a lot of stretch room in the ratings over the past 10-15 years. This is mostly good for the NFL, because it ensures that the game doesn't rely on the attractiveness of teams/markets for their showcase event. But the downside actually arises when great matchups to come to fruition. The game has already hit it's max audience levels, there's nobody else left that will ever watch. An 81(!) share in Boston still meant 19% of people didn't watch who had their TVs on. And again, look at the articles from last year's Superbowl. Big market Bears, Peyton Manning, relatively close game. It added up to the MOST WATCHED SUPERBOWL EVER. And somehow, this year's game was able to find another 4 MILLION people for XLII — 4 million people who did not watch the most-watched game ever until Sunday.
I agree with your thinking about elasticity, though it still troubles me that FOX typically (though not this past Sunday) underperforms the other network's SB coverage. It makes me wonder if there's something in the system where if Pats vs. Giants were on CBS, it wouldn't have cracked 100m.
last year's Bears/Colts was not the previous record for viwers, that was the 1996 Steelers/Cowboys matchup, but Bears/Colts was close!
I hear you Robert, a 5% bump doesn’t seem all that huge, but in this case it really was. Unlike most or nearly all television these days, the Superbowl is not all that elastic. There hasn’t been a lot of stretch room in the ratings over the past 10-15 years. This is mostly good for the NFL, because it ensures that the game doesn’t rely on the attractiveness of teams/markets for their showcase event. But the downside actually arises when great matchups to come to fruition. The game has already hit it’s max audience levels, there’s nobody else left that will ever watch. An 81(!) share in Boston still meant 19% of people didn’t watch who had their TVs on. And again, look at the articles from last year’s Superbowl. Big market Bears, Peyton Manning, relatively close game. It added up to the MOST WATCHED SUPERBOWL EVER. And somehow, this year’s game was able to find another 4 MILLION people for XLII — 4 million people who did not watch the most-watched game ever until Sunday.
I agree with your thinking about elasticity, though it still troubles me that FOX typically (though not this past Sunday) underperforms the other network’s SB coverage. It makes me wonder if there’s something in the system where if Pats vs. Giants were on CBS, it wouldn’t have cracked 100m.
last year’s Bears/Colts was not the previous record for viwers, that was the 1996 Steelers/Cowboys matchup, but Bears/Colts was close!