TV ratings for Super Bowl 50 fell short of the record set in 2014, then topped
last year.
Why this game came up short is not clear, but it was not due to the
availability of the game via Internet streaming. The average per minute
audience size for live linear TV averaged 111.9 million viewers. The average
per minute audience size for the streaming audience was 1.4 million viewers,
about 1.23% of the total audience. This is lower than the streaming audience
for regular season games this year.
This article say that there were only minor problems accessing the streaming
feeds.
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Craig
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/media/super-bowl-50-ratings/index.html
Super Bowl 50 audience is third largest in TV history
Peyton Manning's potential last game, $5 million ads, and Beyoncé made Super
Bowl 50 the third most watched broadcast in U.S. television history.
The game, which saw the Denver Broncos win a defensive battle over the Carolina
Panthers 24-10, averaged 111.9 million TV viewers.
This number was a decline from last year's record viewership of 114.4 million
people on NBC.
The Super Bowl in 2014 had the second largest viewership with an average
audience of 112.2 million.
The peak of this year's game came from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. ET when an average of
115.5 million people tuned in. This was during the halftime show that starred
Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars.
The actual number of people who watched Sunday's game is undoubtedly larger.
Nielsen's total doesn't count out-of-home viewing, which includes fans who
watched via viewing parties at bars and restaurants.
Related: CBS uses Super Bowl to announce 'The Good Wife' is ending
Internet streaming of Super Bowl is not counted, either. CBS made the game
widely available on tablets, computers and streaming boxes like Apple TV. While
there were some sporadic glitches, most people were able to stream the game
without any problems.
CBS set a new Super Bowl streaming record with an average of 1.4 million
viewers per minute, a notable but unsurprising accomplishment, given that
streaming is becoming more popular each year.
Last year's Super Bowl streaming audience on NBC was 800,000 viewers per minute.
The network reported that 167 million viewers watched all or part (at least six
minutes) of the game on Sunday. That makes Super Bowl 50 the most watched
broadcast in TV history on an all or part basis. However, this figure is more
about showing the sheer scale of the game rather than used as an industry
standard.
#SuperBowl viewership/via TV/Americans at home/average per minute/in millions
2012: 111.3
2013: 108.4
2014: 112.2
2015: 114.4
2016: 111.9
Nielsen ratings are a minute-by-minute average of a program's viewership, so if
people tune out because they're bored by the game, that affects the average.
The Broncos led for the entire game, so the lack of drama could have hurt CBS's
overall total. Yet, the game did have some big storylines such as it
potentially being the last game for Broncos' quarterback, Peyton Manning.
Some armchair commentators said the best part of the event was actually the
halftime show.
As for the telecast that followed the big game, CBS' "The Late Show with
Stephen Colbert" brought in 21.1 million viewers, the biggest ratings in the
show's history.
Colbert's live "Late Show," which had a guest list that ranged from President
Obama to Fox News host Megyn Kelly, was the first late night show to ever get
the post Super Bowl schedule spot.
CNNMoney (New York) First published February 8, 2016: 10:38 AM ET
