The TV ratings box score for the Denver Broncos' 24-10 win over the heavily-favoured Carolina Panthers went like this:
- A Nielsen rating of over 49 (percentage of all television households in the US), with share numbers as high as 73 (percentage of televisions that were in use at the time). Those ratings numbers translated into an average national audience of 111.9 million Americans watching on CBS, peaking at more than 115 million at the end of the game.
- In Canada, Numeris reported that an average of 8.3 million viewers watched (7.3 million in the English-language on CTV and 1.0 million in French on RDS).
Those numbers made Super Bowl 50 the second most-watched NFL championship in television history. In both countries, #SB50 was second only to last year's last minute victory by the New England Patriots over the Seattle Seahawks (114.4 million in the US and 9.23 million in Canada).
It proved yet again that the Super Bowl this decade has grown to the point where it no longer matters who plays in the game.
Regardless of whether it's Denver versus Carolina or New England against Seattle or Green Bay and Pittsburgh, it's become a virtual lock to draw north of 110 million in the U.S. and upwards of 7 or 8 million in Canada.
Yet if the past three Super Bowls have demonstrated anything beyond the increasing irrelevance of match up, it's that TV ratings for the NFL's showcase seem impervious to factors as typically important as amount of scoring, entertainment value or even margin of lead or victory.
Sunday's game was a low-scoring affair dominated by stifling defenses and two offenses that staged very few highlight reel plays. The entertainment needle moved most when mistakes were made and turnovers caused. Regardless, there were 120 million pairs of American and Canadian eyeballs on the game from start to finish (and many more who tuned in for at least part of the game).
One possession games are the optimal for television ratings. Yet this year, it was a 14-point margin of victory and still, 120 million watched. In 2014, the Seahawks blew out the Broncos in the first half and yet, almost 120 million watched in the US and Canada.
This year also proved that we don't even demand strong game coverage for us to stay glued to our high-definition television screens. Much like the Panthers, US rights holder CBS underperformed and delivered what would be described -- at best -- as a mediocre game package. And still, it was the second most-watched Super Bowl in the history of television in both the US and Canada.
The television behemoth that is the Super Bowl has become what it is today as a perfect storm of football, music,advertising and streaming pop culture, from national anthems by the likes of Lady Gaga to halftime shows headlined by Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars.
In the U.S., it has grown from a viewership of 73.9 million in 1990 to the 100 million mark (106.5M) in 2010 and now regularly north of the 110 million plateau. In Canada, it took over from the Grey Cup as the country's single biggest annual sport television event and has never looked back.
It has done so on the strength of appointment television, multiple network rights holders, dynamic cross-promotion and hours of lead-in programming. In recent years, HDTV, social media and fantasy football have not only pumped up the Super Bowl, they've made the NFL the executive producer of most of the year's 30 most-watched television shows.
The Super Bowl is the cherry on the cake of a brilliantly efficient four-month regular season and five-week post-season; one that like the world's greatest rock and roll bands always leave the fans wanting more.
That's why -- regardless of match-up, scoring, margin of victory and even broadcast quality -- we keep coming back in record numbers for a game that is a virtual national holiday in the U.S. and now the biggest annual sports bar event of the year in Canada.
Marketing executive and sport business commentator Tom Mayenknecht is the host and founder of The Sport Market on TSN Radio. The sport business show airs in Montreal (TSN 690), Ottawa (TSN 1200), Toronto (TSN 1050), Hamilton (TSN 1150), Vancouver (TSN 1040) and Victoria (CFAX 1070). He is also a regular contributor to CTV News Channel and the PostMedia News Network through The Vancouver Sun and a principal in Emblematica Brand Builders.
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