Wrapping up this year’s Super Bowl ratings, a look at all of the ancillary programming. Super Bowl pregame coverage fell on NBC and ESPN, but the postgame shows were up across the board. Meanwhile, NBC had the most-watched lead-out show in six years, and the NFL Honors bounced back from last year’s lows.
Super Bowl Pregame Down on NBC, ESPN, Up on NFLN
Last Sunday’s Super Bowl pregame show averaged 11.9 million viewers on NBC, down 43% from last year (20.7M), but that comes with a major caveat. NBC’s telecast was measured from 1-6 PM ET, while last year’s Fox pregame was measured from 2-6:30 PM. As a result, NBC’s numbers include an extra hour of little-watched early afternoon coverage and exclude the highly rated half-hour before kickoff. That half-hour averaged 64.3 million viewers, up 5% from the same time period on FOX last year (61.3M).
Compared to NBC’s last Super Bowl pregame in 2015, which was also measured from 1-6 PM ET, this year’s audience declined a more modest 15% from 14.0 million.
Pregame coverage on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown had 1.2 million viewers (-12%), while NFL Network’s 8-hour edition of NFL Gameday Morning had 709,000 (+18%).
Super Bowl Postgame Shows Up Across Board
NBC’s Super Bowl postgame coverage had a 31.2 rating and 73.5 million viewers, up 21% in ratings and 20% in viewership from last year on FOX (26.1, 61.1M) and up 4% and 5% respectively from 2016 on CBS (30.2, 70.0M). It was the highest rated and most-watched Super Bowl postgame since 2012, when NBC drew a 33.7 and 76.8 million. The postgame increase was in stark contrast to the game itself, which declined 5% in its final half-hour (115.3M to 109.2M) and 7% for the full game.
On ESPN, the postgame edition of NFL Primetime had a 1.25 rating and 2.43 million viewers — down 2% in ratings but up 4% in viewership from last year (1.28, 2.39M). It was the most-watched post-Super Bowl edition of Primetime since 2015 (2.8M).
Elsewhere, NFL Network had a 0.6 (+50%) and 1.1 million (+54%) for NFL Gameday Primetime. The big increase was a rebound after last year’s edition fell 40%. NBCSN brought up the rear with a mere 0.18 and 401,000 for its postgame coverage. FS1 had 820,000 viewers last year.
Super Bowl Lead-Out Hits Six-Year High
This year’s Super Bowl lead-out show — the NBC drama “This is Us” — had a 14.0 rating and 26.97 million viewers, marking the most-watched lead-out show since NBC’s reality series “The Voice” in 2012 (37.6M). Viewership increased 53% over last year’s episode of “24: Legacy” on FOX, which started after 11 PM ET (17.6M), and 31% over “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS in 2016 (20.55M).
In adults 18-49, “This is Us” had a 9.3 rating — up 52% from “24” last year (6.1) and up 18% from “The Late Show” in 2016 (7.7). It was the highest Super Bowl lead-out in the demo since “The Voice” (16.3).
NFL Honors Bounces Back
Last Saturday’s NFL Honors scored a 2.1 rating and 3.5 million viewers on NBC, up 11% in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year on FOX (1.9, 3.2M) but down 25% and 22% respectively from 2016 on CBS (2.8, 4.4M). The event beat ABC’s competing Rockets-Cavaliers NBA game (1.8, 2.96M), but the NBA came out ahead in adults 18-49 (1.0 to 0.8).
[Numbers from NBC Sports PR 2.5, Programming Insider 2.6a, 2.6b, ShowBuzz Daily 2.6]
