Menu
Sports Media

THE NUMBERS ARE IN: HOW DOES FOX'S SUPER BOWL MEASURE UP?

          Fox Sports' broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIII earned a
     40.2/61 Nielsen national rating, making it the sixth most-
     watched program in TV history in terms of total viewership,
     with an estimated total audience of roughly 127.5 million. 
     Fox earned a 30.8 prime-time rating among adults 18-49,
     which increased the network's season-to-date average rating
     to 5.3 in the demo, placing it in a tie with NBC for first
     place among all networks, marking the first time that Fox
     has done so in that category (Fox).
          REAX: The game averaged a 40.2 rating for the first
     half-hour, which then increased to a game high of 41.5 in
     the second quarter before declining to a 38.1 by the second
     half.  The rating saw a typical drop, from 41.2/62 to a
     39.4/59, during the halftime show (Stephen Battaglio,
     HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 2/2).  In N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes
     that the 40.2/61 final rating makes the game the "seventh-
     lowest-rated" Super Bowl ever, despite the 127.5 million
     total viewers.  Fox Sports Senior VP/Media Relations Vince
     Wladika: "Whether it's the second lowest of the 90's, we
     don't care.  Advertisers care about total audience" (N.Y.
     TIMES, 2/2).  In N.Y., Don Kaplan notes that last year's
     Super Bowl telecast on NBC drew "about" 133.4 million
     viewers.  Seltel's Marc Berman: "I think the overall feeling
     is that this year's Super Bowl numbers kind of mirror what's
     happening with broadcast television. ... I would imagine if
     the Jets would have gotten into the game the ratings would
     have been higher nationally" (N.Y. POST, 2/2).  In Atlanta,
     Prentis Rogers reports that Atlanta was the highest-rated
     market in the U.S with a 58.2/79.  While "impressive," the
     numbers were "short of the optimistic projections."  WAGA-
     Fox VP Kathy Soifer: "Some of us might have gotten a little
     overzealous throwing out numbers" (ATL. CONSTITUTION, 2/2). 
          DAY-LONG FUN: Fox's seven-hour pregame ratings ranged
     from a 2.1 to a 12.3. The "Kickoff Show" scored a 2.1;
     "Hardcore Football" earned a 2.7; "Keith Olbermann's All-
     Access" earned a 4.1 and John Madden's "All-Millennium Team"
     earned a 5.9.  The four-hour "NFL on Fox" pregame came
     earned a 12.3 (N.Y. TIMES, 2/2).  In Boston, Howard Manly
     notes that Fox's in-house ads during the seven-hours of pre-
     game programming numbered "around 80."  Wladika: "The reason
     that all networks want to have the NFL on their network is
     to promote itself and earn revenue.  We didn't have an
     outrageous amount" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/2).  Fox's post-game
     debut of "The Family Guy" received a 12.6/21, making it the
     highest rated post-Super Bowl premiere since NBC's '93 debut
     of "Homicide" (Sally Beatty, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/2).
          ARE YOU SURE IT'S PLUGGED IN?: In Atlanta, "tens of
     thousands" of metro residents were faced with a cable and
     electricity power outage during the Super Bowl broadcast.
     Some viewers lost service from MediaOne just before the coin
     toss until after the post-game interviews.  MediaOne's Reg
     Griffin estimated about 20,000 customers were without
     service "for part or all of the game."  MediaOne, citing an
     electrical fire as the cause of the outage, will give
     inconvenienced customers a two-week credit on their next
     cable bill (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 2/2).  An additional
     12,000 MediaOne customers in seven communities near Boston
     had a similar cable outage during the game.  MediaOne
     spokesman Richard Jenkinson said a computer glitch sent out
     faulty data to certain set-top cable boxes that made them
     incapable of receiving signals.  Customers will receive $10
     off on their next bill (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/2). 
          

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/1999/02/02/Sports-Media/THE-NUMBERS-ARE-IN-HOW-DOES-FOXS-SUPER-BOWL-MEASURE-UP.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/1999/02/02/Sports-Media/THE-NUMBERS-ARE-IN-HOW-DOES-FOXS-SUPER-BOWL-MEASURE-UP.aspx

CLOSE