CBS could be looking at a Super Bowl record
January 25, 2010 · 12 Comments
The NFL and CBS will be eyeing a potential record audience for the Super Bowl after the two NFL conference championships drew huge audiences.
Fox and CBS had the best viewership for the two conference finals in 28 and 24 years respectively, with Fox’s NFC championship (Minnesota Vikings-New Orleans Saints) in prime time drawing the larger of the two – 57.9 million viewers. CBS’s telecast of the AFC final (New York Jets-Indianapolis Colts) was watched by 46.9 million.
In Canada, Vikings-Saints on CTV was watched by the largest TV audience ever for an NFL playoff game, 2.6 million viewers, peaking at 3.6 million when the Saints kicked a field goal to win it in overtime. CTV’s earlier Jets-Colts game drew 2.3 million.
The Fox U.S. audience was the largest for the NFC championship since the Dallas Cowboys-San Francisco 49ers game in 1982 (CBS , 68.7 million). The Jets-Colts AFC championship audience was tops in the United States going back to New England Patriots-Miami Dolphins in 1986 (NBC, 47.5 million).
The Super Bowl sets up the top quarterback in the game, Peyton Manning, leading the Colts against QB Drew Brees’s powerhouse Saints offence (which sputtered in the second half of the NFC game).
Fox won the audience fight, but CBS had the better telecast. Fox used to be known for cutting edge sports innovation, but CBS continues to do a better job with visuals and graphics. How a network, which is to say Fox, can choose not to post the time clock on the screen in today’s game of no-huddle offenses with quarterbacks calling plays from the line, is hard to figure out.
Watching Manning use the clock while making his calls at the line was the most intriguing element of the AFC game and the CBS telecast. It was Manning at his most focused and brilliant. And CBS told the story well.
CBS’s Jim Nantz will never win an award for being the most dynamic guy in the world, but he delivers a solid, unobtrusive game description which is exactly what a football play by play voice should do, as opposed to the incessant babbling that CFL fans in this country are forced to listen to.
The chemistry between Nantz and Phil Simms is good, although I’d rate Simms no more than an above-average game analyst. It certainly helped Simms and CBS that they had the better football game, unless you enjoyed watching an NFC championship highlighted by blunders, stupidity, bad calls and of course Brett Favre’s inevitable exercise in self-destruction, the result of which was best team slouching back to Minnesota to watch the big show in south Florida from the sidelines.
This is the reaction on the Vikings radio broadcast to Favre’s late game interception:
Weekend audiences
Football
New York Jets-Indianapolis Colts, CTV, 2.3 million.
Minnesota Vikings-New Orleans Saints, CTV, 2.6 million, a record for an NFL playoff telecast in Canada.
Hockey
Hockey Night In Canada pre-game, 498,000.
Game 1: Toronto Maple Leafs-Florida Panthers/New York Rangers-Montreal Canadiens, 1,451 million.
Game 2: Chicago Blackhawks-Vancouver Canucks, 1.139 million.
Hockey regionals: Friday, Rogers Sportsnet, Dallas Stars-Edmonton Oilers, 160,000; Saturday, Sportsnet, Ottawa Senators-Boston Bruins, 168,000.
Curling
Saturday, CBC, BDO Canadian Open quarterfinal, 388,000; Sunday, final, 600,000 .
Skiing
GMC Alpine Ski Series, CBC, Saturday, women’s downhill, 97,000; men’s downhill, 121,000.
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When it comes to TV ratings, the numbers now are pretty much irrelevant, what with the new system. It won't be until we see next year's (and subsequent years') numbers that we can make comparisons.
Anybody know why only RDS is covering the Probowl game in Canada?
I actually enjoyed the home team play by play clip … never being one to even believe that home broadcasters are objective or even can be,… I thought these two characters perfectly represented what the majority of Minnesota Viking fans were thinking. If that is the case, then that is real radio, real emotion and really reflective of what a home radio audience would want.
Bill did you see any of the Alpine skiing on CBC on Saturday? I'm not usually a big fan of Todd Brooker but he did a great job and John Kucera was really solid which must have been his first time. Brooker is interesting because he's one of the few to call out some of the poor showings of the Canadian womens Speed Queens.
I wouldn't count on the championship game numbers being a harbinger of a big Super Bowl. Indy and New Orleans are smaller market teams with very little fan base outside their immediate markets. They ARE the top two seeds, but I don't think there's that much interest. The NFC title game was driven primarily by Favre (and the possibility of a high scoring shootout) and the AFC game by the presence of the Jets and the huge NYC audience.
Oh I think you're wrong. Indy (Manning) has a big following – and there a ton of Football fans in Canada. I say 5M+
I guess the new method of measuring audiences will also result in an increased Super Bowl viewership number as well. It's hard to believe that the owners and the NFLPA are heading towards a lockout in 2011 – talk about killing the golden goose…
That Jim Nantz appears in commercials with Peyton Manning deserves more attention.