The Super Bowl was a super fail — in excitment, that is.
Not only was it the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever, but it was also the lowest-rated Super Bowl in 10 years.
via Deadline:
Shown on CBS for the first time since 2016 and with ad spots going for around $5 million each, the Rams’ loss scored a 44.9/68 in metered market results.
To put that in the starkest light of day, that’s a dip of more than 5% from Super Bowl LII February 4, 2018 on NBC in the first round of ratings. On a larger playing field and amidst a call for a boycott of the game due to the league’s “racist” treatment of Colin Kaepernick, Sunday’s metered market result is the worst the Super Bowl has done in the early numbers since the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals on February 1, 2009.
A tight and seamlessly flowing offering from the network, yesterday’s Super Bowl also is down a bit more than 8% from the metered markets of the last time CBS had the game three years ago. That game, Super Bowl 50, saw the Denver Broncos top the Carolina Panthers 24-10 on February 7, 2016 in a gridiron clash that eventually resulted in 111.9 million viewers and the honor at the time of being the third most-watched show in U.S. TV history.
The lowest-rated Super Bowl in eight years in the early metrics, last year’s 41-33 win by the Philadelphia Eagles over the Patriots ended up with 103.4 million viewers, a nine-year low – so far.
Last night’s postgame premiere of James Corden-fronted reality series The World’s Best pulled in a 14.0 in the metered markets according to Nielsen numbers this morning. While unscripted apples to dramatic oranges, that’s a drop of almost 14% from the special Super Bowl episode of NBC’s This Is Us that aired after last year’s Eagles’ win. Compared to the debut of Undercover Boss on CBS back in the ancient TV days of 2010, the last time an unscripted show premiered on the net right after the Super Bowl, the series fronted by judges Drew Barrymore, RuPaul Charles and Faith Hill was down 31% in the metered markets.
No surprise for such a low-scoring game that didn’t see a single touchdown for ages, Super Bowl LIII peaked near the end with a 47.3 in metered markets in the 9:30-10 PM ET slot.
No word yet on the halftime show ratings, but we imagine they’re equally as dismal.
Check out the top 5 Super Bowl metered market ratings ever, for perspective:
1) 2015: 49.7 – Super Bowl XLIX: New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks (NBC)
2) 2016: 49.0 – Super Bowl 50: Denver Broncos vs. Carolina Panthers (CBS)
3) 2017: 48.8 – Super Bowl LI: New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons (Fox)
4) 2013: 48.1 – Super Bowl XLVII: Baltimore Ravens vs. San Francisco 49ers (CBS)
5) 2011: 47.9 – Super Bowl XLV: Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (Fox)
