CBS’ Super Bowl 50 broadcast, according to early Nielsen ratings, delivered the second highest overnight rating on record – behind only last year’s results. Sunday’s telecast of the Denver Broncos’ 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers averaged a 49.0 household rating/73 share in the 56 metered markets across the country, peaking with a 51.0/73 for the final 15 minutes (10-10:15 p.m. ET). Last year’s game on NBC between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks averaged a 49.7 household rating in the overnights, which translated into an all-time record national audience of 114.4 million viewers.
“Working against Super Bowl 50 was the fact that it was a relatively low-scoring game. Quarterback Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos ultimately topped the Carolina Panthers 24-10 in a pairing that was not nearly as competitive as the year prior. But scores are not something that appear to affect the Super Bowl. 2014 set a record with an absurdly lopsided 43-8 victory for the Seattle Seahawks. It’s one of several ways in which the Super Bowl has proven itself immune to TV’s trends of ratings fatigue. Even by its own lofty standards, and seemingly regardless of play, the biggest night of the U.S. TV calendar has consistently been outdoing itself in recent years,” reads a commentary by The Hollywood Reporter.
This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.