Wrapping up last weekend’s Super Bowl ratings, the FOX pregame show hit a four-year high, the halftime show scored a viewership bump, postgame coverage was a mixed bag, and the NFL Honors hit a new low.
Super Bowl pregame show at four-year high
Last Sunday’s Super Bowl pregame show averaged 21.6 million viewers on FOX, up 26% from last year on CBS and the largest pregame audience since 2016. Compared to 2017, the previous year FOX aired the Super Bowl, viewership increased 4% from 20.7 million. FOX also averaged 4.5 million for a Super Bowl edition of Fox NFL Kickoff, up 10% from 2017 (4.1M).
Bucking the positive trend was a special FOX edition of the FS1 show “Undisputed,” which averaged 1.3 million — down 46% from the same show in ’17 (2.4M). The show aired at 11 AM ET this year and at Noon in 2017.
Super Bowl halftime scores bump
The Jennifer Lopez and Shakira-led Super Bowl halftime show averaged 103 million viewers on FOX, up 4% from Maroon 5 last year, but down 4% from Justin Timberlake in 2018 (106.6M). The 4% bump exceeded that of the full game telecast (+2%).
Including viewership on Fox Deportes, the halftime show averaged 104.1 million.
Postgame coverage up on FOX, down on ESPN and NFLN
The FOX Super Bowl postgame show averaged a 24.6 rating and 57.04 million viewers, up 4% in ratings and 5% in viewership from last year on CBS (23.6, 54.20M), but down 22% in both measures from 2018 on NBC (31.5, 73.45M).
The lead-out, the reality show “The Masked Singer,” averaged an 11.4 and 23.73 million — up 4% in ratings and 7% in viewership from “The World’s Best” on CBS last year (11.0, 22.21M), but down 19% and 12% respectively from NBC’s “This is Us” in 2018 (14.0, 26.97M).
“Masked Singer” averaged an 8.1 rating in adults 18-49, up 16% from “World’s Best” (7.0) but down 13% from “This is Us” (9.3). In adults 18-34, it had a 6.5 — up 12% from last year (5.8) but down 13% from ’18 (7.5).
Elsewhere, ESPN’s postgame NFL Primetime averaged a 0.9 and 1.61 million (-0.4%), narrowly marking the show’s smallest post-Super Bowl audience in at least a decade. NFL Network averaged a 0.29 and 595,000 (-27%) for its postgame NFL Gameday.
New low for NFL Honors
Last Saturday’s NFL Honors averaged a 1.7 rating and 2.82 million viewers on FOX, marking the lowest rating and viewership in the history of the event (dates back to 2012). The three lowest rated and least-watched editions have been the three to air on FOX. Ratings fell 19% and viewership 18% from both last year on CBS (2.1, 3.42M) and 2018 on NBC (2.1, 3.46M).
Despite the decline, the NFL Honors topped all other Saturday sports programs, including the competing Sixers-Celtics NBA game on ABC (1.1, 1.66M).
[Nielsen estimates from Fox Sports, Programming Insider 2.5 a, b]
