The TV Zone

...Ever.

Anyway, that's what NBC says. It just released these figures:

1. Super Bowl XLIII 151.6 million NBC 2009
2. Super Bowl XLII 148.3 million Fox 2008
3. Super Bowl XXVIII 144.4 million CBS 2004

So, what does "most viewed" mean? It's a term, honestly, that I've struggled with for eons. It's a conundrum, a riddle, a mystery - as in, what's the difference between "most viewers" and "most viewed?" Shouldn't they be one in the same?

I think it means this - that someone who kind of wandered in the room when the game was on, stuck around for fifteen minutes, then wandered out, is counted. Total viewers are those who stick around for the whole thing.

It also includes all the out of home viewers - bars, colleges, people hanging out in the electronics section of Target and so on.

I view "total viewing" numbers with some suspicion. But all the networks play this game. And for the moment, NBC is the winner.

NBC is taking the glass half-full approach to the Super Bowl viewership picture...

It's now saying last night's big show was the SECOND most watched SB ever. (Some web reportage this morning had last's performance somewhat disappointing, or at least in comparison to last year's barn-burner.) Here are the figures, gratis our friends at NBC:

MOST-WATCHED SUPER BOWLS (average viewers):
1. Super Bowl XLII 97.5 million Fox 2008
2. Super Bowl XLIII 95.4 million NBC 2009
3. Super Bowl XXX 94.1 million NBC 1996
4. Super Bowl XLI 93.2 million CBS 2007
5. Super Bowl XXVII 91.0 million NBC 1993

The "MASH" finale averaged 106 million viewers, making it the most-watched
television broadcast in history.

MOST-WATCHED TELEVISION BROADCASTS (average viewers):
1. "MASH" Finale 106.0 million CBS 1983
2. Super Bowl XLII 97.5 million Fox 2008
3. Super Bowl XLIII 95.4 million NBC 2009

The initial read on the audience of Super B looks promising - but no record breaker.

It averaged about 78.9 million viewers - let's just round that off to 79 million - which is not a formal number, BTW, but probably close to the final one, due out in a little bit.

In the so-called overnights in major cities, it got a 42 rating, per NBC. That's still two points behind last year's truly classic 'Bowl telecast... And as you can see below, New York didn't even make the top 20. That doesn't mean we slept through this game, just that there was less interest than elsewhere...

But 42 is still pretty darned good considering you had a pair of teams without major MAJOR market appeal.

Here are the figures that NBC just sent out (and as you know, a rating is a percentage of all TV households...)

But first, here's the Fox interpretation: "NBC’s Super Bowl 43 (Steelers vs. Cardinals) combined with Post-Game coverage and a special episode of The Office to deliver a 29.9/61 from 7-11p, down slightly from FOX’s Super Bowl night last year (Giant vs. Patriots followed by a special House), which delivered a 31.4/62 in the Fast Nationals before rising to a 34.8/68 in the Finals."

LAST FOUR SUPER BOWL OVERNIGHT RATINGS:

Super Bowl XLIII 42.1/65
Super Bowl XLII 44.7/66
Super Bowl XLI 42.1/62
Super Bowl XL 42.2/62

TOP 25 MARKETS FOR SUPER BOWL XLIII:

1. Pittsburgh 53.6/79
2. Norfolk 52.6/72
3. Jacksonville 50.6/71
4. Buffalo 50.4/68
5. Richmond 49.3/67
6. Tampa 49.2/70
7. Ft. Myers 48.1/68
8. Cleveland 47.7/69
9. Phoenix 47.5/80
10. Indianapolis 47.4/65
11. Nashville 47.2/66
12. Washington D.C. 46.7/70
13. Columbus 46.5/67
14. Orlando 46.4/66
15. Memphis 46.3/63
16. Philadelphia 46.2/65
17. New Orleans 45.7/63
18. Knoxville 45.2/58
19. Baltimore 45.0/63
T20. Denver 44.7/76
T20. Las Vegas 44.7/68

What makes a great ad?

Does anybody really care to get an answer to this?

Not really.

But what makes a great Super Bowl ad?

That's an interesting question. The answer: Something that surprises; is beautifully produced; doesn't offend in some visceral sort of way; has a modicum of class; has reasonable payoff; may be funny (but not necessarily so); doesn't bore; makes you think (a little); feels like something you wouldn't mind seeing again; and...finally...makes you look at the product in a whole new way....

What makes a BAD Super Bowl commercial?

Just put the words "not" or "does not" in front of the adjectival clauses above.

I have just now sorted out this year's winners and losers based on the above criteria.

Please go to the jump for the losers; they deserve to be buried in the jump.

And now, the five best winners, in ascending order, with the best saved for last....

5.) Careerbuilders: A smart ad for the times...it plays with repetition, which forces you to pay closer attention. It veers to the edge of annoyance, and then...draws back. A winner.

4.) Monster.com: Clean, simple and almost funny - but also plays with the zeitgeist (that the rich have the fancy front office at the expense of all the poor schmos out there working to make a buck.) The story is told with nary a word uttered while the payoff is a mixture of bathos and pathos.

3.) Pedigree Adoption Guide: A crowd please that got considerable exposure even before original air during the 'Bowl. It sells dog food only subliminally; this one putatively asks that you consider adoption. Clever, indeed.

2.) Hulu: A personal favorite. Appearing late in the game, your mind tries to engage Alec Baldwin's odd presence here. As a result, this ad forces you to step into its topsy-turvy universe, which then forces you to accept the pay-off - that Alec's an alien who will eat your TV-reduced brain because "that's the way we roll." TV, and Hulu, making fun of their own degenerative powers? Who COULDN'T love a message like that, punctuated by the perfect tag: "Hulu - an evil plot to destroy the world. Enjoy!"

1.) Coke "Heist:" Yes, an easy victor. This ad encapsulated everything cited above. Foremost, a thing of beauty that defies description. A full movie in thirty seconds, where characters are established, motives described, plots unfold, and final resolutions established. The bugs drink. His hand reaches for the bottle, which dissolves into a flurry of wings. Gorgeous.

Continue reading "Super Bowl Ads: The Winners, and The Losers" »

Unless you decide to stick around for "The Office" immediately after the Super Bowl on Sunday - strongly recommended - then you can head over immediately to Hulu which will stream EVERY single Super Bowl ad, and then, give you a chance to "Vote for the Best."

Per Hulu partner, NBC: "Fans of the advertisements featured in this Sunday's Super Bowl will be able to view those ads almost immediately after they air, on popular websites NBC.com, Hulu.com and SuperBowl.com.In addition, users will be able to post their favorite ads on a blog or webpage through both the NBC.com and Hulu.com widget applications. Hulu will allow users to vote on their favorite ad, with the winner announced on Tuesday, February 3rd."

Super Bowl!

With neither the Giants or Jets (fat chance, ever) in there, who cares?

The Steelers will win.

There. Now you don't have to watch. (Though the boys from Pittsburgh are maybe a little worried about Fitzgerald and Boldin ... So change of mind - the Cards will win ...)

But what we WILL watch this Sunday are the ads. Some of them will be great. Some will be silly. Some stupid. Some stupendously stupid and silly.

The wonderful people at Adweek and Mediaweek, and Brandweek have sent me their compilation of some of this Sunday's sponsors. Here's a quiz: What sticks out in this list like a hog at a cow convention? Answer: At the bottom...


· Anheuser-Busch

· CareerBuilder

Answer: Of course, you got it. Godaddy.com. What the heck is a godaddy? Beats me ...but go to the Web site, click on the Super Bowl ad, and I suspect you'll agree - this is money that would have been better placed with a charity of godaddy.com's choice.

This is actually kinda interesting - a bunch of Super Bowl stats from Nielsen. I didn't know a lot of this stuff - maybe you didn't either...Here, from Nielsen, some excerpts, verbatim:

* TELEVISION: Last year’s tilt between the Patriots and the Giants was viewed by a record 97.5 million people nationwide. As expected, the Super Bowl was the most-watched TV broadcast in 2008.

* ADVERTISERS: The cost of a 30-second spot in last year’s Super Bowl was $2.7 million. Total spending for the game reached over $195 million. Anheuser-Busch bought the most commercial time (4 minutes total). The highest-rated commercial minute was the Victoria’s Secret spot at 9:44pm, seen by 103.7 million viewers. The most-liked ad was produced by the NFL. The most-recalled ad was produced by FedEx.

* ONLINE: Super Bowl advertisers saw a 24 percent jump in Web traffic the day after last year’s Super Bowl. The Pepsi commercial featuring Justin Timberlake gathered the most Internet buzz.

* MUSIC AND MOVIES: In the week following Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ halftime performance last year, sales of their “Greatest Hits” album jumped 196%. Petty’s “Anthology: Through the Years” album jumped 240% that same week. Box office sales on the weekend of Super Bowl Sunday show notable decline. The NFL Super Bowl XLII DVD was the #1 selling sports DVD in 2008.

(Pix: Julie Jacobson, AP)

...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will play the half-time slot at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, snagging the most-watched musical showcase of the year, according to the organizers.

This year, more than 148 million viewers in the U.S. watched Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers play at the championship game of American football, the National Football League said on Sunday....

How about those Super Bowl ads, eh? Our very own colleague Verne Gay registered his judgments here, but viewers are having their say, too.

AOL’s sixth annual Super Sunday Ad Poll ranks these Super Bowl XLII commercials as viewer faves, voted by visitors to AOL Sports as of noon Monday, Feb. 4:

1 Budweiser: "Rocky"
2 Bridgestone: "Squirrel"
3 Coca-Cola: "Balloons"
4 Life Water: "Thriller"
5 E-Trade: "Baby"

The tally keeps getting updated because viewers can still register their votes (through Feb. 10) at AOL’s Super Bowl Ads page, where you can view the dozens of contenders and leave comments, too.

Our super-blogging colleague Neil Best has the local Super Bowl ratings over on his Newsday.com sports Watchdog blog.

Meanwhile, the early Nielsen overnights are reported at our friend Marc Berman's daily newsletter The Programming Insider.

Just added there, the updated nationals: "The Giants vs. Patriots match-up averaged an approximate 89.10 million viewers and a 34.8 rating/67 share among adults 18-49 from 7-10 p.m." Wow.

Another wow were the results for a special post-Super Bowl edition of "House" (delayed considerably in the New York market by WNYW's local post-post-game report, which must have hurt the totals): "The Super Bowl Post Game at 10 p.m. scored an estimated 68.32 million viewers and a 28.2/57 among adults 18-49, while the first-half of a edition of 'House' netted 32.78 million viewers and a 14.4/34 in the [18-49] demo at 10:30 p.m."

UPDATED 4:45 p.m. Feb. 4, 2008 -- CBS now says Eli Manning WON'T be on tonight's Letterman show. He'll appear instead Wednesday night, Feb. 6. Guess Dave wanted Hillary all to himself. Or vice versa.

Original post below.

Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning visits "Late Show With David Letterman" tonight (11:35 p.m. on CBS/2), joining previously scheduled Hillary Clinton for one whopper of an hour.

In the interest of equal time, CBS' Letterman web page is featuring Barack Obama's Top Ten list of campaign promises.

Having recovered sufficiently from the Greatest Super Bowl in History (GSBIH), I can now render my verdict on all the other aspects of the big show. With grades, and best moments in boldface. I'm certain I've missed a few here and there (sorry), but Newsday lets you vote for your favorite, if you haven't already.

Here goes..

Jordin Sparks: Starts low and slow with the anthem but crowns if off with that big clean voice. And why wasn't she this good on "Idol?" (A)

Diet Coke: Bad start to Super Bowl ad parade (D).

SalesGenie: Huh? What's a "salesgenie?" Don't know from this. (F).

Under Armour: One of those puzzlers that makes you wonder, what's an "under armour." I'm still not sure (athletic stuff, I think). (C)

Bud Light: The big cheese, and guys will be guys. Droll but predictable. (C -)

Bridgestone: Game's big sponsor has the game's big winner - screaming squirrel, and easily the advertising highlight of GSBIH. (A+)

iTunes: Whatever. (Just tell me how to sync my list). (C)

"Wanted:" The trailer. Did not work. Forgettable. (D)

Godaddy.com: with male heart-racer, Danica Patrick, but just weird, and what the heck is a godaddy? (D).

Fed Ex: Attack of the giant pigeons. Animals to good, if destructive, effect. (B)

"Iron Man:" Trailer. I dunno, he looks like he's made of nickel. Good trailer though. (B)

Corolla: The badger will chew off face if disturbed. Good. Funny. Clever. (B+)

"Leatherheads:" Trailer. Clooney in a muddy comedy? Uh-uh. (D).

Garmin: Napoleon? Whaaa? (D)

CareerBuilder.com: Beating heart on two legs. Disgusting. The worst of the GSBIH ads. (F)

Lifewater: Dancing lizards. Gimmickry for expensive sugar water. (B-)

Yukon Hybrid: That drawing of guy pushing rock up hill. I liked it visually, but still can't fix the idea of a hybrid gashog Yukon in my head. (B)

Bud Light: Poking fun at people with funny accents. That'll sell beer. Right. (D)

Narnia: The best of the trailers. (B+)

T-Mobile: With the round mound of rebound. Not there. (C)

Pepsi/Amazon: Justin Timberlake gets the worst of it. So do viewers. (D)

Doritos: Attack of the giant mouse. Low-budget look that works. (B +)

Daytona 500: The best of the Fox promos - visual dynamo, with aural fireworks. (A)

Ideacast: Semi-naked guy? (D -)

Chase (Protection): Secret agent man. Blah. (D)

"Ax Men": The wood cutters. Remember? Of course you don't. That's the problem. (D).

NFL Network: The in-house ads, with the guy who can't get his story straight. Amusing but will we watch? (B-)

Halftime Show: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. One of the great rockers in history gets center stage at GSBIH, and I'm sorry to say, it was soporific. This recent habit of going to the standards (Stones, McCartney, now Petty) may have broad demographic appeal, as they say in the ad trade, but sometimes at the expense of energy and spontaneity.

Zantac: Heartburn. 'Nuff said. (C -)

SemiPro: No. (D)

Cars.com: Witch doctor. Whatever. (C)

SalesGenie: Still blowing all that IPO money, eh? And still no go - the pandas. (F)

Vitawater: Shaq on horse. Strange. (D)

Bud Light: Cave men discover the bottle opener. Terrible. (D).

Ice Cube Ice Breakers: With Carmen Electra. A bore. (C).

Bridgestone: Alice Cooper...Richard Simmons...great, again. (A)

CareerBuilder: The spider. Hmmm. (C)

Hyundai: Little surprise twist. (B)

Wall-E: "Toy Story" riff. Endless. (D)

E-Trade: The slick talking baby. Creepy. (D)

Geico: The return of the hairy dudes, who offer their critique of the TV show ("what's with the make-up.") Still amuses. (B).

Audi (AKA "Godfather.) I still don't know what was in the bed. (D)

Dell XPS: the exploding PCs. Liked it. (B)

Coke: Stewie and Charlie race for the Coke bottle. This one seems to be the overwhelming favorite of everyone, and understandably. I still like the Screaming Squirrel. (A)

Zohan: Trailer. With Sandler. Dumb and dumber. (D)

Gatorade: Thirsty dog. Only average. (C)

Bud Light: Jackie Moon, AKA, Will Ferrell. The only decent "Light." (B)

Victoria's Secret: For the guys. Eye-opening. (B).