CBS' broadcast of Super Bowl XXXV featuring the Ravens-Giants on Sunday earned a 40.3/60 final Nielsen rating, down 7% from last year's 43.3/63 for Rams-Titans on ABC, and even with '99's 40.2/61 for Broncos-Falcons on Fox. In all, 131.2 million viewers saw all or part of the telecast. The post-game show recorded a 28.7/43 rating, while the premiere episode of "Survivor II" produced a 23.6/38 (CBS). The AP's Howard Fendrich notes the game's 60 share was a record low for the 6:30-9:53pm ET broadcast. The previous low share for a Super Bowl was 61 in '99 on Fox, and in '92 on CBS. The only other Super Bowl since '71 with a lower rating was '90's 39.0 for Broncos-49ers, also on CBS (AP, 1/30). The game "attracted an average of just" 84 million viewers, the game's smallest audience in six years (WASHINGTON POST, 1/30). The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Ray Richmond adds the game "tied as the second poorest-rated Super Bowl of the past decade and produced the lowest share of TV viewers in the game's 34-year history." Richmond: "Nonetheless, the CBS braintrust has no quibble with the Nielsen returns." CBS Exec VP/Planning David Poltrack: "We were able to hold the audience through the first half, through halftime and into the postgame. That isn't easy when you're talking about a 34-7 game" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 1/30). CBS Sports President Sean McManus: "The fact that we had a blowout and still got over a 40 rating is really a tribute to the strength of the Super Bowl." Nationally, the male 18-49 demo rated a 41.1, down from a 43.3 last year. Adults 18-49 rated a 35.8, down from 37.9 last year and adults 25-54 rated a 37.3, down from 37.9 last year. The N.Y. market ranked 24th in the nation with a 40.5/59 (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 1/30). The rating on WCBS equaled about 2.5 million HHs, or 52% of area TV sets tuned in (N.Y. POST, 1/30). In Dallas, Barry Horn writes under the header, "CBS `Thrilled' At Super Bowl Ratings; Much Worse Had Been Expected" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/30). NEWSDAY's Steve Zipay writes CBS' rating "came up short of expectations. ... The telecast will undoubtedly be the highest-rated program of the year, but only six Super Bowls have generated a lower rating" (NEWSDAY, 1/30).
DAMAGE CONTROL: With the rating, the WALL STREET JOURNAL's Joe Flint writes that next year, Fox "may face a tough task persuading advertisers to top" the $2.3M per 30-second spot paid by many of this year's advertisers to CBS. Also, this year's game was the lowest rated in the adults 18-49 demo since CBS last carried the game in '92. CBS President & CEO Leslie Moonves said, "Everything we could control we did OK with" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/30).
TALKING HEADS: Optimum Media Direction ad buyer Steve Grubbs: "For advertising purposes, a 40 rating is a threshold." Mediacom's Jon Mandel: "In no way is a 39 or 40 rating a train wreck. You can't buy a 39 or a 40." CBS' McManus added, "The real encouraging thing for us is that people stayed and watched the postgame and premiere of Survivor II" (USA TODAY, 1/30). CBS Sports Senior VP/Sales Scott McGraw noted that the net sold a record of about $150M in ad sales, while its 16 O&Os sold $50M. McManus: "The one thing we couldn't control was the score of the game. It was a huge success, both from a programming and a financial standpoint." Former SFM Media President of National Broadcast Jerry Solomon, an industry consultant, said, "Considering that the game had already started to get boring in the third quarter, a rating of around 40 attests to the magic of the Super Bowl and that people stayed with it even when it was already a blowout" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1/29). NY-based Katz TV Group Dir of Programming Bill Carroll: "To have such a non-competitive game, not much in the way of star power and still pull in that kind of share, that's certainly nothing to sneeze at" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 1/30).
HALFTIME SHOW 'NSYNC WITH TEEN VIEWERS? INSIDE.com's Tom Bierbaum reported that the Super Bowl halftime show averaged a 40.0/59 rating, down 1% from the game's average. But the show earned a 36.9 rating among adults 18-49, up 3% from the game's average, and a 29.9 among teens, up 5% from the game's average (INSIDE.com, 1/29).
IN CANADA: While "complete Canadian ratings are not yet available," Global TV reported yesterday that the game averaged 1,548,000 viewers per minute in Ontario, which is down 11% from last year when the game "drew a record 4 million viewers across the country." The Ontario figure is the "lowest in four years" (TORONTO STAR, 1/30).
TECHNO-GAME: In IL, the DAILY SOUTHTOWN's Tim Cronin watched the Super Bowl in HDTV and calls it the "future," and a "breathtaking four hours" of TV. Cronin: "When you see it, you'll spell it 'WOW!'" (DAILY SOUTHTOWN, 1/30). USA TODAY's Snider & Martzke report that CBS "had a separate crew capturing the action on high-definition cameras." That signal "was broadcast by more than" 30 CBS affils and by some digital cable networks. The "widescreen video displays more of the field in precise fashion. Another plus: surround sound." CBS Exec VP Martin Franks said CBS "doesn't know exactly how many watched the [HDTV] broadcast, but estimates that perhaps 500,000 did" (USA TODAY, 1/30)....Last night's edition of NBC's "Dateline" examined EyeVision and the technology involved. NBC's Len Cannon reported that "future set-ups will only take three to four days, and the price tag will drop to $75,000 to $100,000, allowing broadcasters to use Eyevision for any sporting or concert event" compared to the three weeks and the $2M it took to install the system for the Super Bowl ("Dateline," 1/29). In Philadelphia, Phil Sheridan writes, "It would not be an exaggeration to say that EyeVision was the highlight of the telecast. ... [But it] deserves a catchier name" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 1/30).
ON THE STREET: Shares of SportsLine.com rose 3.3% on Monday to close at $8.75. Shares in Viacom were up 4.2% yesterday to close to $56.25. Meanwhile, shares of PVI dropped 15.8% yesterday, to close at $4.81 on Monday. Early today, PVI was down another 11.7% to $4.25 (THE DAILY).
