Paramount Scores Ratings Win With Overtime Super Bowl, Swift
After nearly a full season of Taylor Swift hype, it was assumed that Super Bowl LVIII — featuring Swift watching from a suite while her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, suited up at tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs — could be the most-watched game ever.
Of course, that was before fourth quarter heroics by both the Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers led to overtime, and a thrilling extra period that was decided in the final seconds.
The result? A win for the Chiefs (and Swifties worldwide). But also, one for CBS parent company Paramount, which got to lay claim to record TV audience across linear, streaming and out-of-home viewing — as first reported by iSpot.
Nielsen numbers for Super Bowl won't be out until later today but iSpot, the cross-platform measurement firm is projecting 126.6 million viewers. which includes linear, streaming and out-of-home consumption.
— Joe Flint (@JBFlint) February 12, 2024
The iSpot data, published about eight hours earlier than Nielsen’s, estimated an average second-by-second audience of 126.6 million throughout the game. Nielsen, meanwhile, said it was 123.4 million late on Monday evening… though the legacy measurement giant also has a history of undercounting TV audiences of late.
Using either number, the game still set a Super Bowl viewership record, surpassing last year’s game by 10.9% according to iSpot. In its release, iSpot reveals that the average second-by-second household audience on linear and streaming across CBS, Univision, Nickelodeon and Paramount+ was 50.5 million households.
Despite the thrilling finish to the game, the most interesting part of viewership during this Super Bowl, though, may have been how steady the audience was throughout. iSpot’s second-by-second tracking below showcases ebbs and flows throughout the close contest. However, it’s notable that the audience did stay pretty steady throughout — and especially so during the back-and-forth action of the fourth quarter and overtime. The major spike, of course, came during Usher’s halftime performance, which featured numerous famous guest stars including Alicia Keys, Ludacris and Lil Jon.
From an ad perspective, iSpot shared that Etsy’s “France,” which aired at 8:23 p.m. ET during the game, was the most-seen spot from a P18+ TV ad impressions standpoint. Its Creative Assessment survey data showed that some of the biggest ad winners — according to audiences — included BMW (Talkin Like Walken), Universal Pictures (Kung Fu Panda 4) and Volkswagen (An American Love Story), which scored the highest by likeability. The strong returns for autos weren’t too shabby either, considering the industry’s dwindling ad footprint over time during the Super Bowl. Though Jeep actually had the top ad during last year’s game by likeability score as well.
