Super Bowl Broadcast News

Thirty-second spots during the 2018 Super Bowl (LII) are selling for “just north” of $5 million, which is close to the same as ads from 2017. The Super Bowl will be broadcast on NBC from U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis Minnesota on Feb. 4, 2018. Calling the game will be play-by-play announcer Al Michaels, former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver and current color commentator Cris Collinsworth, and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya. Joining Tafoya will be Heather Cox, who will call her first ever Super Bowl in her first two seasons with NBC Sports. The Pepsi sponsored halftime entertainment features Justin Timberlake will be the featured performer. Timberlake performed in two previous Super Bowls: Super Bowl XXXV in 2001 as a member of NSYNC, and Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 with Janet Jackson, and was part of the “Wardrobe Malfunction” incident.

Neilsen Ratings 2017: According to results from The Nielsen Company, the broadcast of Super Bowl LI (2017) on CBS had an average audience of 111.3 million viewers, and was viewed in an average of 53.6 million homes and had a preliminary 45.3 U.S. household rating. Preliminary estimates also found that 70% of U.S. homes with televisions in use were tuned into the Super Bowl LI. In regard to the social nature of the big game, Nielsen Social noted that there were 190.8 million social media interactions across Facebook and Twitter from 48.3 million people in the U.S. related to "Super Bowl LI: New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons" on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017, according to Nielsen. Social activity for the game peaked between 10:30 ET p.m. and 10:34 ET p.m. when 7.5 million interactions occurred after the New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons. On Twitter, each person in the U.S. interacted 4.4 times on average. The most Tweeted-about ads included Mr. Clean's "Cleaner of Your Dreams," Audi's "Daughter," and Buick's "Pee Wee Commercial with Cam Newton & Miranda Kerr" (excludes TV and movie trailers).