Key insights from this report:
BY A.J. KATZ
Ratings Intelligence has decided to analyze the counterprogramming options for those who aren’t necessarily fans of the Patriots, Seahawks, or football in general. Although it is consistently the most-watched telecast of the calendar year, networks, both cable and broadcast, have sometimes attempted to intentionally counterprogram against the Super Bowl by running special episodes of existing series, one-off special presentations, and previews of new series, often-times during its halftime break. According to Dan Holloway from our sister brand Broadcasting & Cable, “stunt counterprogramming the Super Bowl has long been a favorite tactic of small or upstart networks looking to draw attention.” In 1992, a relatively young FOX Broadcasting Company decided to give CBS a run for its money (no pun intended) and aired a live episode of its popular series in Living Color during halftime of Super Bowl XXVI. The episode featured football-themed sketches and a clock counting down to the start of the second half. It’s been reported that the episode drew around 22 million Live+SD P2+ viewers+; Nielsen estimated that CBS lost 10 household ratings points during halftime as a result of the special. The NFL took notice.
The following year’s halftime performer? Michael Jackson. This halftime performance for Super Bowl XXVII increased the ratings for NBC by a significant amount. It has been claimed to be one of the most watched events in American television history. After 1993, there was a deliberate effort to attract top performers for the halftime shows.
Sticking with the Super Bowl halftime show theme, YouTube announced last week that its AdBlitz channel will host a first ever live Super Bowl halftime show. The special will feature YouTube stars such as Harley Morenstein of EpicMealTime, Freddie Wong, Rhett and Link and Toby Turner. The league doesn’t appear to see YouTube’s plans as a similar threat.
As B&C’s Dan Holloway mentioned, cable networks, particularly those looking to better establish their brands, are more likely to go the stunt route. WGN America will do so in the form of a 10-hour, 20 episode How I Met Your Mother marathon officially titled the “1st Annual We Know It’s The Day Of The Big Game But Please Watch Us Anyway How I Met Your Mother Barney Bowl Marathon Sponsored by Little Caesars Pizza.” According to Little Caesars EVP of Marketing and Promotions, Brian Dollenmayer: “We’ve got game…just not the game.”
Offering other alternatives on game day are TLC, Discovery Life Channel and presenting sponsor Mead Johnson for the “Enfagrow Toddler Bowl,” premiering on both networks Sunday at 12p and encoring at 2p ET. Host and YouTube star Clintus McGintus will act as referee, guiding tykes through various brain-boosting contests. “Enfagrow is a nutritional drink designed to help nourish healthy brain development. So, we were happy to sponsor a program that showcases both mental and physical challenges for toddlers,” said Leslie Lee, associate director of marketing for Enfagrow.
BET is tackling Sunday with The Super Bowl Gospel Celebration, a one-hour special co-hosted by Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper) and her husband, retired NFL quarterback Rodney Peete. Singing up a storm will be Gladys Knight, among others.
These niche programs will draw an audience, but for the most part, counterprogramming has rarely been able to put a dent into the Super Bowl audience. Will that change this year? Today’s report analyzes the Live+SD ratings of events that have been televised live on Super Bowl Sunday, as well as broadcast programs that have gone head-to-head with the game during its typical 6:30-10:00pm ET time interval.
Super Bowl XLVIII, 2014 (Live+SD)
Here are the numbers from last year’s Super Bowl, which saw the Seattle Seahawks blow out the favored Denver Broncos:
Date | Originator | Program | Episode | Telecast Start Time | P2+ Est. Median Age | Live+SD P2+ Proj (000) | M 2+ Proj (000s) | F 2+ Proj (000s) | Gender Skew | P 18-49 Rtg% | P 25-54 Rtg% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
02/02/2014 | FOX | FOX SUPER BOWL XLVIII | SEATTLE VS DENVER | 06:33 PM | 43.7 | 112191 | 59631 | 52559 | 53%Male | 39.28 | 40.66 |
Last year’s broadcast on FOX drew 112.2 million total viewers, a 39.3 Nielsen rating among P 18-49 (Live+SD). Despite scoring a higher rating in P 25-54 than 18-49, 44.5% of all viewers fell into the 18-49 demo, and 44.3% fell into the 25-54 demo. Additionally, the gender skew was 53% male, the most-even skew of any NFL telecast that season.
In the face of numbers that massive, cable networks can either engage in goofy stunts to increase brand visibility or put up reruns and move on. The Big Four broadcasters—each now in business with the NFL or owned by a company that is (ABC and ESPN are both under the Walt Disney Company umbrella) —tend toward the latter. Here’s what the broadcasters aired during the 6:30pm – 10pm ET timeslot on Super Bowl Sunday last year:
Super Bowl Sunday Counterprogram Performance on English-Language Broadcast (Live+SD)
Date | Originator | Program | Episode | Telecast Start Time | Reported Duration | Live+SD P2+ Proj (000) | Households Rtg% | P 18-49 Rtg% | P 18-49 Proj (000s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
02/02/2014 | NBC | NBC MOVIE SP 2/2 | LITTLE FOCKERS | 09:04 PM | 124 | 2435 | 1.49 | 0.68 | 866 |
02/02/2014 | NBC | DATELINE CLASSIC | N/A | 07:00 PM | 124 | 2328 | 1.56 | 0.40 | 513 |
02/02/2014 | FOX | FOX SUPER BOWL XLVIII | SEATTLE VS DENVER | 06:33 PM | 202 | 112191 | 46.75 | 39.28 | 49871 |
02/02/2014 | FOX | FOX SUPER BOWL POST-GUN | SEATTLE VS DENVER | 09:55 PM | 8 | 93371 | 39.55 | 34.59 | 43918 |
02/02/2014 | CBS | 60 MINUTES PRESENTS | N/A | 07:00 PM | 60 | 3515 | 2.33 | 0.38 | 478 |
02/02/2014 | CBS | MENTALIST, THE – SP | N/A | 09:00 PM | 60 | 2874 | 1.95 | 0.40 | 507 |
02/02/2014 | CBS | GOOD WIFE, THE – SPECIAL | N/A | 08:00 PM | 60 | 2505 | 1.73 | 0.28 | 352 |
02/02/2014 | ABC | ABC WRLD NEWS TONIGHT-SUN | N/A | 06:30 PM | 30 | 2898 | 1.96 | 0.31 | 398 |
02/02/2014 | ABC | AMER FUNN HM VIDEOS-2/2 | N/A | 08:00 PM | 60 | 2777 | 1.61 | 0.61 | 768 |
02/02/2014 | ABC | AMER FUNN HOME VIDEOS | N/A | 07:00 PM | 60 | 2233 | 1.35 | 0.43 | 549 |
02/02/2014 | ABC | SHARK TANK SP 1-2/2 | N/A | 09:00 PM | 60 | 2200 | 1.37 | 0.56 | 705 |
CBS had the most success with its counterprogram last year, airing a rerun of 60 Minutes, which drew 3.5 million total viewers. In the 18-49 demo, NBC’s presentation of the feature film Little Fockers started at 9pm ET and grabbed a .68, tops among English-language primetime broadcasts. ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos rerun followed with a .61. CBS’ rerun of The Good Wife was the worst at .28.
The “Cute Animal Bowl” (Live+SD)
Cute animals—or at least animals easily purchased in stores or your local shelter—are also big on cable. Sunday will see the return of Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl, Hallmark Channel’s Kitten Bowl and Nat Geo Wild’s Fish Bowl. Here’s how each performed on the previous Super Bowl Sunday. Super Bowl XLVIII is included as a benchmark:
Date | Originator | Program | Telecast Start Time | Reported Duration | Live+SD P2+ Proj (000) | Households Rtg% | P 18-49 Rtg% | P 18-49 Proj (000s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
02/02/2014 | FOX | FOX SUPER BOWL XLVIII – SEATTLE VS DENVER | 06:33 PM | 202 | 112191 | 46.75 | 39.28 | 49871 |
02/02/2014 | ANIMAL PLANET | PUPPY BOWL | 03:00 PM | 120 | 3254 | 1.80 | 1.04 | 1320 |
02/02/2014 | ANIMAL PLANET | PUPPY BOWL | 5:00 PM | 120 | 1438 | 0.88 | 0.49 | 625 |
02/02/2014 | HALLMARK CHANNEL | KITTEN BOWL | 12:00 PM | 180 | 1044 | 0.66 | 0.22 | 282 |
02/02/2014 | ANIMAL PLANET | PUPPY BOWL | 07:00 PM | 120 | 563 | 0.35 | 0.19 | 236 |
02/02/2014 | NAT GEO WILD | FISH BOWL | 06:00 PM | 240 | 27 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 12 |
In 2014, Puppy Bowl was the king of the pet-centric counterprograms (who doesn’t love cute puppies!?), drawing 3.3 million total viewers for its 3pm pregame broadcast, followed by 1.4 million for its 5 pm broadcast and 563,000 for its in-game broadcast at 7 p.m. The three-hour Kitten Bowl, which kicked off on Hallmark Channel at noon ET, drew around 1 million total viewers. Going head-to-head with the game for most of its four-hour broadcast, Nat Geo Wild’s Fish Bowl—featuring footage of a goldfish in a bowl—drew a predictably-miniscule 27,000 viewers.
As seen above, women tuned into the “animal bowls” more than men, and this trend will likely continue on Sunday. But Super Bowl counterprogramming is one of the rare cases where ratings don’t rule. Fish Bowl, for example, was not only renewed, but expanded. This year’s installment will feature two fish in a two separate bowls!
The Greatest Threats to Super Bowl Ratings Records
It’s a foregone conclusion that NBC and The Super Bowl will rule the night, but it’s conceivable that the telecast might not eclipse last year’s numbers, despite the juicy matchup of New England vs. Seattle. “Zombie Bowl” is back again, but AMC’s The Walking Dead-palooza isn’t the only show marathon offered against the game. BBC America’s running a Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon, Bravo’s got an orgy of The Real Housewives Of Atlanta, Investigation Discovery’s offering a Wives With Knives, Comedy Central’s serving up many episodes of Key & Peele and Futurama.
But AMC’s Zombie Bowl results will be more closely watched by the media, given that the first half of the show’s Season 5 tackled NFL’s Sunday Night Football five times, in the demo, in eight matchups (compared to just two wins against the NFL previous season) AMC’s zombie-thon is intended to warm up the room for the show’s return February 8 — a week after Super Bowl XLIX — to finish up Season 5. That midseason debut will play lead-in to AMC’s much-ballyhooed unveiling of its Breaking Badprequel, Better Call Saul.
While the Super Bowl viewership predictably skews in the male direction, a higher percentage of females tune into the Super Bowl than any other NFL telecast during the season. With The Real Housewives of Atlanta, one of the highest-rated programs on television among women 18-49, and Wives With Knives airing on an increasingly popular, female-skewing Investigation Discovery network, the gender skew may sway slightly more male this year compared to last. While “The Zombie Bowl” may be the biggest threat to Super Bowl viewership records, ratings scored by the two aforementioned female-skewing programs are something to keep an eye on.