Washington: Sunday’s close Super Bowl contest between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers failed to beat last year’s game in total viewers, CBS Corp said yesterday.
An average of 108.41 million viewers tuned in, compared with 111.3 million a year ago when the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots on NBC. CBS said it was the third-most-watched program in television history, behind last year’s Super Bowl and 2011’s match-up between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, which garnered 111 million viewers.
CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether a 35-minute partial electrical blackout in the third quarter of the game affected ratings. Advertisers paid $4m on average for a 30-second spot during the game.
Late Sunday, CBS said in a statement that “all commercial commitments during the broadcast are being honored.”
CBS also said that a record 164.1 million people watched all or part of the telecast for at least six minutes. This measurement is up 3 percent from 159.2m a year ago.
Meanwhile, The National Football League, the Superdome and a utility investigating the cause of a power outage at one of the world’s most watched and meticulously planned events exonerated the halftime show from blame in the Super Bowl mishap.
The 35-minute disruption came moments after performer Beyonce lit up the Superdome with a halftime spectacular that officials said was powered by generators and would not have sapped the stadium’s electricity.
“There’s no indication at all that this was caused by the halftime show,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters on Monday. “I know that’s out there, that Beyonce’s halftime show had something to do with it. That is not the case from anything we have at this point,” he said.AGENCIES
