Related Posts
Mentor
Coach
Ether is back. Let the bulls run 🌖👩🏽🚀🚀
Ok, what does ‘F’ mean
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
That was just a preview…
Sign Up to see all discussions
Sign Up to see all discussions
- Discover what it’s like to work at companies from real professionals
- Get candid advice from people in your field in a safe space
- Chat and network with other professionals in your field
Sign up in seconds to unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
"" is an unusual email domain. If correct, please proceed to the next step
Messaging rates may apply
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Share
Embed this post
Copy and paste embed code on your site
Preview
Download the
Fishbowl app
Scan your QR code to download
Fishbowl app on your mobile
Sign up for free to view this conversation on Fishbowl
Sign up for free to continue using Fishbowl
Messaging rates may apply
First, I don’t have a dog in this fight. I watched the NFL’s halftime show, and that’s what I plan to watch next year. I like the spectacle and I get my politics in other venues besides the big game.
But, in terms of marketing, money, and culture, this TPUSA thing turned out to be a real surprise. And it will be significant, no matter what you or I think about it. This isn’t about the opinions, it’s about eyeballs and money. Here’s why:
There are viewship for the TPUSA event as high as 25 million people so far. That would make it one of the top ten non sporting events of the year. There were zero estimates anywhere near that predicting what it could do in the best case scenario. It shattered the expectations, and it was very poorly done and glitchy, and with no top tier “talent”. If you think the NFL is ignoring that, you are dreaming. But it’s even worse for the NFL.
Of course viewership rose for halftime, people wanted to see what Bad Bunny would do and the SB halftime is a huge deal. But what many are missing (or ignoring) is that millions of people left the halftime to watch something else. And that event didn’t even promote itself well or have any sponsors making money.
As a business, if you paid all of that money to advertise during the Super Bowl and then find out that millions and millions of people turned it off for an alternate streams, the ad buy will be negotiated differently next year. That’s just how advertising works. No business wants to see people “walk out” of their business, and that’s what happened with the halftime this year. The NFL and the advertisers aren’t going to be excited about adding more viewers, they will be upset about the ones that they lost.
But it gets worse. There are different ways of calculating viewership. The NFL is going to use the highest number possible, of course, and they should. That number uses calculations based on venues that have TVs on the wall like casinos and bars, and then uses the seating area of the venue to determine the possible viewer numbers. So a casino in this specific instance would have view numbers in the thousands contributing to the TV numbers. This gets into advertising arguments about active vs passive. Guess which stream becomes more interesting for the advertisers who want to make money and not just grab eyes? It will be the stream that brought in more people who left the other.
Let’s get further into the weeds. The TPUSA numbers are only streaming and don’t include the venue numbers because that’s only a TV thing. And I promise you advertisers see this TPUSA broadcast that just set a new US YouTube streaming record as significant. Which doesn’t count that it was also broadcast on TBN, and some other streaming services like Rumble.
But there are also calculations based on households, and those numbers show reduced viewership for this halftime compared to last year. Same calculations, same service from year to year. And those numbers also give the house hold viewer numbers calculating not just TV, but mobile and other streaming services. And the numbers get apocalyptic here for the NFL. SBLX didn’t top 50 million households. But the TPUSA numbers indicate household views of somewhere over 20 million.
Do you see why I’m saying this ended up being a really big deal?
I finish the way that I started: I don’t care what the messaging was for either stream. I watched Bad Bunny for the spectacle, and I will watch the NFL’s halftime next year for the same reason. But a lot of people have different reasons than I do for what they chose to watch. That is now obvious and there’s no reason to argue the numbers. It’s now about learning and adjusting for these businesses.
That’s why I bring up Bud Light and Cracker Barrel. I fully expect a similar adjustment from Apple Music and the NFL unless they see numbers outside the US market that justify continuing this direction. In that case, maybe next year is a KPop group. It’s a shame we never got a BTS halftime show when they were super hot.
You nailed it and I enjoyed reading your well thought out response regarding this from strictly a business perspective. Truth!
Rising Star
More people watched the Puppy Bowl at halftime than the TPUSA thing. Maybe the NFL should just do that for its halftime show.
I don't think so you tube view counts one device as one view where as TV counts one device as 3 you you would need to times the you tube view by 3.
Pro
Very interesting post. I have also found it interesting how the numbers have revised throughout the week, with game and halftime viewership numbers coming in lower than projected and the alternate numbers climbing through post-game viewers online. I feel there is great fidelity in numbers now due to tracking of streams and downloads than in days past. And yes, the NFL should take note of these trends…because their advertisers are.
Rising Star
“Frank Luntz, a veteran political consultant and pollster, said that Turning Point USA’s halftime show drew “more than five million” viewers, but The New York Times reports that 6.1 million people opted to watch the event, which was streamed on YouTube.
At the time of writing, the Trump-endorsed concert has been viewed 19 million times, with many noting on social media that they clicked on the video once the Super Bowl ended out of curiosity.
This is a far cry from the figures amassed by the Super Bowl. Official numbers are yet to roll in for Bad Bunny’s performance, but they’re being projected to be around the 128 million mark, which would make it one of the most-watched half-time shows in history.”
https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/news/turning-point-usa-halftime-show-viewers-bad-bunny-kid-rock-b2917178.html
While I am sports challenged to say the least, I found both your posts persuasive and informative. I did not watch either performance, but your neutrality seemed to offer reliable information. Thank you.