Gap Between Number Of Male, Female Super Bowl Viewers Is Shrinking

The discrepancy between the number of females and males watching the Super Bowl has been getting smaller over the last decade, according to demographic data from Nielsen Media. Based on the 111.5 million viewers who watched the Packers-Steelers Super Bowl XLV on Fox last year, 54% were male, compared to 46% female. Looking back six years ago to the Steelers-Seahawks Super Bowl XL on ABC, the gap was 12 percentage points, while 10 years ago for the Patriots-Rams Super Bowl XXXVI on Fox, the gap was 14 percentage points. Meanwhile, the discrepancy between viewers with lower income and those with higher income appears to be getting larger. Ten years ago, 13% of Super Bowl viewers were from households making less than $25,000 a year, while 16% were from homes making over $100,000. Looking at last year's game, only 12% of viewers were in homes making under $25,000, compared to 30% in homes making over $100K. Listed below are select demographics for viewers of the Super Bowls from '11, '06 and '02 (THE DAILY).

SUPER BOWL AUDIENCE COMPOSITION TREND
DEMO	'11 (PACKERS-STEELERS)	'06 (STEELERS-SEAHAWKS)	'02 (PATRIOTS-RAMS)
Female	46%	44%	43%
Male	54%	56%	57%
Age 2-17	16%	15%	16%
Age 18-34	23%	22%	23%
Age 35-49	25%	28%	28%
Age 50-64	22%	21%	20%
Age 65+	14%	14%	13%
Caucasian	80%	83%	84%
Hispanic	9%	7%	7%
African American	11%	11%	9%
HH Income <$25K	12%	12%	13%
HH Income $25-50K	22%	25%	28%
HH Income $50-75K	20%	23%	29%
HH Income $75-100K	16%	18%	15%
HH Income $100K+	30%	22%	16%