This month’s Super Bowl attracted 113.426 million viewers to Fox when out-of-home measurements were factored in, according to Nielsen. The out-of-home number is 12.98 million, leading to a total viewership figure that is 13% higher than Fox' final number for in-home alone and 3% higher than last year’s Super Bowl with out-of-home, Fox execs said. The numbers are even gaudier in the younger demos: when out-of-home ratings are included, Fox saw a 19% lift in the 18-34 demo, Fox Sports Exec VP and Head of Strategy & Analytics Mike Mulvihill said. “For a lot of years, we’ve been talking about how to capture the younger audience and meet them on their terms,” Mulvihill said. “The out-of-home measurement goes a long way to meeting them on their terms.”
As part of Nielsen’s final ratings, the Super Bowl eclipsed the 100-million-viewer mark on Fox, averaging 100.446 million, higher than the 99.869 million viewers Nielsen reported the day after the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl’s 13% out-of-home lift was similar to Fox’ 12% Sunday afternoon regular-season out-of-home increase, Mulvihill said. “For as much as this is the social event of the sports year, we really didn’t find the out-of-home impact to be much different from what we’re going to be selling every week next season.”
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For the next regular season, TV networks will be selling advertising based on out-of-home ratings, which will be fully integrated into the national ratings and available the day after a game. “This number that we saw for Super Bowl LIV suggests that once the out-of-home gets fully incorporated, we’re not far off from getting to that 120 million level,” Mulvihill said. Out-of-home ratings essentially count the number of people that can hear television audio anywhere outside their own residence -- from bars and restaurants to friends' homes and airport waiting areas. “There are 100 places where we might encounter TV content just going about our day-to-day lives,” Mulvihill said. “Out-of-home is designed to capture all of that.”
