While the final Super Bowl ratings were up less than 1 percent compared with last year, the ratings increased a robust 12 percent for the key men 18-to-34 demographic group. The game averaged a 39.6 rating for men 18 to 34, up from a 35.4 last year. Ratings for men 18 to 34 have come back across the board in sports after suffering some post-9/11 woes.
Other key demos outpaced the overall rating. Men 18 to 49 were up 6 percent to a 41.8, and men 25 to 54 were up 4 percent to a 44.2.
The national household rating for Super Bowl XXXVII came in at a 40.7, the best since the 43.3 three years ago when Tennessee and St. Louis played a nail-biter. The two previous Super Bowls came in at 40.4. This year's game outpaced three other recent Super Bowls, Denver vs. Atlanta in 1999 (40.2), Washington vs. Buffalo in 1992 (40.3) and San Francisco vs. Denver in 1990 (39.0). The latter two games were blowouts.
Prior to the 1990 game, the last Super Bowl to get below a 40 rating was Super Bowl V back in 1971, which did a 39.9.
LATE BUYS GET CREATIVE: ABC did some creative packaging to keep Super Bowl pricing intact for the last few Super Bowl spots sold. Advertising sources said they felt the real pricing on the last remaining 30-second spots was in the $1.7 million range, but the preference on both sides was to do larger deals and never put a price specifically on the Super Bowl inventory.
Subway, which picked up the last remaining third-quarter unit on the Tuesday before the game, also bought pregame inventory and some NBA advertising. AOL Broadband snatched up a 15-second ad late in the game, but did a deal that included a plug in the postgame show from host Chris Berman directing viewers to video clips of all the Super Bowl ads on AOL Broadband. AOL Broadband also was mentioned as a broadcast sponsor in the fourth quarter.
ALL MIKED UP: The audio of Oakland wide receiver Jerry Rice and Tampa Bay safety John Lynch talking to teammates during the Super Bowl went through a filtering process by NFL Films before it ever made it to the air.
Both players were miked by NFL Films, which supplied audio to ABC several minutes later. But it was NFL Films, not ABC, that edited the audio feed into sound bites. And NFL Films kept some key moments from viewers. When Rice burned the Bucs' defense for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, for example, viewers never got to hear Lynch's reaction.
Still, ABC's producers and commentators said they were pleased to have sound from the field and sideline during a Super Bowl for the first time.
ABC analyst John Madden said just hearing the sound of one player colliding with another was a trip down memory lane, and he'd forgotten just how loud the sound can be.
Play-by-play man Al Michaels said his favorite moment was Lynch saying that the Raiders were running all the plays the Bucs had practiced against. He also liked the clip ABC got in the first half of Rice saying to fellow Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown that the Raiders should run the ball more. Rice eventually took off the mike when the Raiders were losing badly in the second half.
ABC hopes miked players become a regular feature on "Monday Night Football" next year. "We'd love it," Michaels said. It is up to the NFL and NFL Films to make it happen, but Michaels said he is optimistic that they will see the benefit. "The league is getting better in that regard," he said.
Andy Bernstein can be reached at abernstein@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
