Advertisers can feel good about Super Bowl LVII’s ratings, even if viewers didn’t love every ad
This story is part of Digiday’s annual coverage of the Super Bowl. More from the series →
Super Bowl LVII on Fox is in the books, with a solid ratings trajectory throughout the game.
The game reached a total of 124 million viewers, according to ad tracking service AdImpact, leaving most advertisers quite content with the $7 million per 30-second spot they spent in between a tight game, whose winner was unclear until the final minutes of the fourth quarter. (More clear was the general consensus that the celebrity-stuffed ads underwhelmed most observers and critics, while a few ads featuring dogs stole hearts.)
AdImpact broke down the ratings for the big game, starting with the national anthem, through a controversial penalty call late in the fourth quarter that influenced the game’s outcome and finishing with the presentation of the Lombardi trophy to the Kansas City Chiefs, who defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35.
Here’s how the Super Bowl’s ratings tracked, from beginning to end:
- National anthem (6:30 p.m. — all times Eastern): 77 million
- Kickoff (6:43 p.m.): 98.8 million
- Eagles‘ first touchdown (first quarter): 104 million
- Chiefs‘ first touchdown (first quarter): 107.8 million
- End of first quarter: 114.6 million
- Eagles‘ third touchdown (second quarter): 120 million
- Halftime: 124 million
- Rihanna’s performance during halftime: 123.5 million
- Start of third quarter: 121 million
- Chiefs‘ third touchdown third quarter (8:56 pm): 122 million
- End of third quarter: 120 million
- Chiefs‘ fourth touchdown (fourth quarter): 120 million
- Before the two-minute warning in fourth quarter (10:04 p.m.): 109 million
- After two-minute warning: 115 million
- End of the game (10:15 p.m.): 113.6 million
- Presentation of Lombardi trophy: 75.9 million
“Advertisers who participated in this year’s big game experienced consistent higher ratings as the two teams battled down to the final field goal of the game,” said Rick McGuire, AdImpact’s director of sales, who said viewership was 20% higher than last year’s game. “The combination of a close game and a younger-skewed halftime show, made for the perfect combination to keep viewers’ interest right to the final seconds.”
According to AdImpact’s analysis and ratings tracking, it seems FanDuel’s ad featuring former NFL player Rob Gronkowski kicking a field goal (he apparently missed the field goal, although to this viewer it looked like the ball went through the uprights) got the highest audience, given it came in the ad break right after the Chiefs’ third touchdown in the third quarter.
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