Super Bowl ratings down, a little

Posted by Mike Florio on February 3, 2014, 2:22 PM EST
AP

The Super Bowl continues to draw TV audiences like no other event, but the numbers generated on Sunday were actually smaller than last year.

According to Austin Karp of SportsBusiness Journal, FOX’s coverage generated an overnight rating of 47.6 for the Seahawks-Broncos game.  That’s down a hair from last year’s 48.1, racked up by the Ravens-49ers contest in Super Bowl XLVII.

Still, it’s the fifth-highest rating for any Super Bowl.

The biggest numbers on Sunday night came not from Seattle nor from Denver but from Kansas City, which produced a schadenfreude-aided 58.1 number.  In New York, the 50.5 rating was the highest New York rating since Giants-Broncos racked up a 53.4 in 1987.

That last part could be the strongest evidence yet that a New York/New Jersey Super Bowl won’t be a one-shot deal.  The Giants have won three Super Bowls since that game in early 1987, and the one game hosted by New York outperformed each of them.

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95 responses to “Super Bowl ratings down, a little”

  2. Personally switched to the Puppy Bowl at half time. Much more entertaining than the Super Bowl.
    Laura had 4 touchdowns.
    Rudy was the MVP, even though he didn’t score.

  3. Looks like KC deserves a SB. If a market like Indy can have one, and you allow NY to have one outdoors, KC would be an ideal place. Especially with those ratings.

  4. A lot of us switched back over to the Puppy Bowl, we wanted to see some real competition.

  5. A phenomena that only occurs every few years, coinciding with Steelers not being in the SB.

  6. BORING, not taking anything away from the seahawks cause they came to play, but the Broncos entire team was just awful. Its not like SEA was that much better than them either, they just played a horrible game.

  12. Does this potentially have anything to do with the fact that the game was over at half time and people moved on or is it just looking at TVs that were tuned in for any point in the game?

  13. game got boring after half…seahawks defense kept the game fun…but it was boring…also the terrible ads…broncos gave up too easily, biggest choke job by peyton’s supporting cast…

  14. Blame Time Warner Cable..they droppd service from 4 minutes before halftime until the start of the 4th quarter maybe alil longer

  15. The game was a disaster so ratings being down is not unexpected. they lost out on that whole halftime crowd that hops in to close games once they get wind of it. so the NFL made 1.5 billion instaed of 2 billion . they’ll live.

    Last night we saw one of the greatest qbs ever get destroyed by, in my opinion, the greatest defense that I have ever seen. To do what they did in an era that is all about the offense and scoring points is incredible.

    What does disappoint me the most though is that a true qb got dismantled and that a sandlot qb without the ability to read a defense won. Todays NFL is going towards a one read check down or run qb. The days of the true pocket passer are fading and I hope we can get back to it at some point soon.

  16. couldn’t believe the Viking fans that were all of a sudden seattle fans the past two weeks. Bashed percy for leaving beginning of the year “don’t need him” then they want him to win a superbowl. Folks were changing profile pics to the seahawks logo, idk how many times I seen #LOB. its sad to be honest. Never thought id see Tjack playing in a superbowl game before AP let alone winning one.

    Get a clue Faithful!

  23. The PuppyBowl was more exciting than the SuperBowl,coming from a diehard football fan.Hopefully the stink from yesterdays game goes away by this time next year.

  25. At least last years Super Bowl featured a 2nd half comeback. This years Super Bowl featured boring commercials that lacked humor and a really good team playing really bad.

    The Super Bowl needs to ban serious commercials. Between the one sided game and commercial to keep me disinterested I fell asleep many hours before bed time.

  26. Probably because not as many people wanted to watch a bunch of performance enhanced poor winners take the most beloved trophy in America to Seattle.

  27. 49ers are just going to bring in a lot more fans from around the U.S than the Seahawks(hawks fans are great, and proved this, so this is not what I am saying) but there were a lot of people who came out of their 1994-95 hiding place to support the 49ers.

    its a shame that #1 vs #1 was such a bad game though. this wasn’t just a bunch of turnovers or lucky breaks. this was an absolute whooping.

  29. The only thing interesting about last night was the halftime show. I just don’t think Seattle is a team that will ever make for an interesting Super Bowl. It was just as boring when they were blown out by the steelers last time.

  30. It’s just more reason for the NFL to manipulate the outcome of playoff games.
    Adding playoff games will only add to that.

  33. Can the NFL please refrain from taking political ad spots? Don’t care if you’re a dem or repub I DON”T want to see that garbage during a football game. Weak, weak, weak.

  34. BRONCOS FAULT! They didnt show up and the Seahawks beat them down. Now you hear haters crying about this and that but how do you hate on a blowout win by the better team and if your team was better then they should have been in the SB instead of the Hawks!

  37. Eli Manning was making faces because he threw 3 picks in the Puppy Bowl and then got sacked by an adorable golden lab puppy on 4th and inches.

  39. Say what you want about the Pats not winning the big game in 2007 and 2011, but at least they were competitive games.

    This game was about as unsuper a bowl as you can get short of a toilet bowl.

  40. I may just be getting old but the non-football related hooplah that surrounds this game every year is beginning to bore me. I used to watch every segment leading into the big game and now it is just recycled information that we already know about. The celebrities that get involved are absolutely embarrassing and the analysis from the “experts” is just a bunch of nonsense any fan could figure out. Media week is a joke and the award show was even worse. I hate to say this but I may have gotten my fill of NFL football finally. I didn’t think that was even possible. Way to go Goodell.

  43. Best Superbowl I’ve watched in a while. Was happy to see Carrol, Sherman, and the rest of the Legion take home the trophy. Guys deserved it.

  44. The ratings went down right after harvin took it to the house at the start of the second half.

  45. The Ravens are 40/1 to win the Bowl next year. Same odds as the Redskins and 1st rd 1st pick Texans.

    Ravens, you’re done. Everyone sees it. All this can be attributed Joe “50/50” Flacco

  48. Most people tuned out before half time based on social media. Congrats NFL for engineering the ‘most boring superbowl ever’ as the majority of posts read.

  50. I wanted to switch channels because of how boring it was, but didnt have options besides i had guests :).

  51. Not only was the Super Bowl awful, the commercials were the worst I’ve ever seen.

    At least Bruno Mars and RHCP was a decent halftime show this year.

    Terrible, soon to be forgotten game.

  53. Just goes to show that the NFC West is the toughest in the NFL and defenses DO win Championships. Any of the NFC West teams would have had the same outcome and ironic that the two “best” teams have equally as obnoxious fans, lol! Sorry to see a real class guy like Peyton Manning set up by the media to take such a fall. What part of BEASTMODE didn’t they understand…almost like they don’t watch football!

  58. THANKS TO THE AVALANCE!

    Its just fun to remind the 49ers what the trophy looks like. BTW Good luck as NFC bottom dwellers. Rams and AZ are legit.
    Go Hawks..again and again and again …

  59. Not interested in any Superbowl that doesn’t include the Packers. Without them it tends to be boring, and even the comercials are not that great unless we get the discount double check guys and Aaron Rodgers. That guy is as funny as he is talented on the football field !

  62. Looked like both Mannings have a hard time playing at the Met…………..

    5

    0

    Thank you for your feedback. We will look into it.

    Leave Eli out of it. he was not playing. Leave Eli alone. he has enough pain, he does not need you to add to it

  64. I guess I am in the minority of New Yorkers who were sick and tired of the hype and the noise and inconvenience by the time the game rolled around. Of course, I am probably also in the minority of football fans who will skip a Super Bowl if the teams aren’t compelling to me.

  65. A two week build up ? Really ? There were so many NFL games that were so much better,like every other game played this season , except this abomination. The tv was on but if you paid to advertise you are not happy. The ratings are only part of the story.

  66. I watched it until it was 22 to nothing. As a fan of neither team, it was a terrible game really. Reminded me of some of those blow outs back in the early 80s. Boring.

    Other than that, I find myself less and less excited about wathing football these days. I liked it when it was good, but the NFL is trying to change it to bring in a different lot of folks to watch the games. It is almost like the NFL thinks everyone who has watched it for any amount of years is hooked and will never stop watching no matter how bad the NFL makes the sport.

    Maybe I watch football next year, maybe not. I know I quit buying NFL gear years ago now.

  68. That’s because the whole Peyton Manning deal was overplayed and let’s be honest, no one really cares about Seattle.

  70. No surprise. Broncos admitted cheating their 2 Super Bowls, several Seahawks players convicted of cheating with PEDs. Two very unlikeable teams. Tough enough to watch two of the most hated teams in the NFL let alone a blowout Super Bowl.

  71. PFT needs to update this story. According to The Drudge Report, the intial returns were incorrect and last night’s Super Bowl was the “Most-Watched in History With 111.5 Million Viewers.”

  72. I’m not saying some Steeler fans are so insecure they live their lives only through the Steelers, but it’s pretty hilarious that in an article about the 5th highest ratings for another SB-winning team, there are more posts from Steeler fans pathetically trying to stay relevant by talking pseudo-smack about more recent SB winners than Pittsburgh, than anyone else.

    Next season will come soon enough and repeating is never easy, but for now, congrats to the Seahawks and their fine season.

  73. I just googled super bowl ratings and got differing results:

    1. Super Bowl ratings: Most-watched TV event ever!

    2. TV Ratings: Super Bowl Lowest Since 2010 But Still In Top 5

    3. Super Bowl ratings down, a little | ProFootballTalk

    4. Super Bowl 2014 produces fifth-best overnight rating – Newsday

    So I guess it just depends on who you ask…

  75. Last year the Super Bowl was as much about Beyonce as it was about the game. That can’t be said about the halftime show this year. Talk about a snoozefest! Social media almost had a meltdown last year after Beyonce rocked the New Orleans Superdome with so much chatter about the halftime show. Oh well, NFL…now you know what sells.

  78. Worse SB ever. The game was terrible since Denver didn’t show up, the halftime “entertainment” was horrible and even the commercials were bad. Of course the ratings are down, AND it was on Fox.

  79. I keep reading “Ugh it was the worst Super Bowl ever blah blah blah”. These 25 years olds have no idea. All of us old timers remember the 1970s and 80s when it seemed like the SB was an awful blowout every year. We’ve been lucky over the last 10/15 years to have a bunch of great ones.
    The stinkers happen. Deal with it.

  80. I turned it at halftime, Denver was mentally not there, the DB’s were stretching jersey’s or bumping past the 5 yards and the ref’s weren’t calling it. Maybe next year there will be a NFL game at the Super Bowl, until the, there is always Netflix.

  81. commercials have been bad for the last two years. That is what brought everyone to the game. Since they have fallen all you are starting to get are just football fans.

    If they don’t lower the price to advertise and let more companies get creative in the advertising department the ratings will continue to drop.

  82. The Seahawks played a hell of a game and deserved to win it all.

    Still, I found it ironically appropriate that Denver wore their orange jerseys because they looked like traffic cones out there.

  83. Denver zero Super Bowl victories since they cheated the cap not once not twice but three times. Peyton chocked worst then porn star savanna Sampson on the legion of boom.

  84. I could swear I read it was the most watch show in the history of television? Ya Denver fans found it boring and went out and smoked dope, but the Seattle fans had a great game and smoked dope during it.

  85. The Ads sucked. You spend 4 mil for 30 seconds and you can’t hire inventive people to create a great commercial?
    Kudos to Radio Shack, the Yogert Crap with the Bear, of course the puppy and horse. One of the simplest was the commercial with the sound of the Kazoo. I laughed my ass off.

  86. This will always be about the teams in the game. Did you know the highest rated tv show this past fall was a nfl game between the Cowboys and the Raiders. It’s all about the fan base of the teams. A better game would not have hurt.

  88. Game wasn’t anywhere near super rather boring I think. Not sure why I sat and watched the 2nd half hope next years is better. Going to miss football. Denver forgot to show up and the Seahawks defense played a fantastic game.

  90. All the haters are trying to say that the blowout was just because Denver played poorly, rather than acknowledging that they were shut down by the best defense since the ’85 Bears.

    Whatever. Great game Hawks!!!! Looking forward to the parade on Wednesday.

  91. How about seed the teams base off the record they have and take it outta conference that way it can be a NFC vs NFC or AFCvs AFC Super Bowl cause this one was over 1 quarter

  93. My guess is that many fans stayed around for the halftime show, and stayed awhile to see if Denver found some answers to make it competitive. When Harvin nailed the coffin closed by running back the opening kickoff to make it 29-0 a lot of people found the remote. They may have clicked back to check the score a few times, but unless someone enjoyed seeing how many different ways Seattle would score, not much drama left to see.

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