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The 21st Century Fox unit is set to broadcast the 51st
edition of the National Football League’s title game on Feb. 5
in what is traditionally the most-watched TV show of the year
with viewership of more than 100 million.
Big Super Bowl ratings are particularly important this year as
the NFL is coming off a season in which it saw its average TV
audience drop by 8 percent. The league was hoping the playoffs
would continue its post-U.S. election turnaround but the
post-season has been filled with one-sided match-ups, with an
average margin of victory of 15.7 points.
Heading into Sunday's conference championships games, NFL
playoff games have averaged 33.2 million viewers, down more than
3 percent from last year.
This year’s title game in Houston pits the four-time Super Bowl
champion Patriots against the Falcons, who are making only their
second Super Bowl appearance.
Fox is getting more than $5 million for 30 seconds of commercial
time and as high as $700,000 for a spot in the online livestream
of the game, according to Fox Sports’ chief executive Eric
Shanks.
Fox has not sold its entire ad inventory for the game yet,
hoping to command a premium from any last-minute buyers,
although a Falcons-Patriots matchup may not command quite as a
high a rate.
While the Falcons have quarterback Matt Ryan, a favorite to win
the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award, Fox missed out on a chance
of having Patriots quarterback Tom Brady square off against
Green Bay’s superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers after the
Packers were defeated by the Falcons on Sunday.
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This came a week after the Packers eliminated the Dallas
Cowboys from the playoffs. A Cowboys-Patriots Super Bowl was
widely considered to be the most enticing TV match-up. Four of
the five most-viewed games this season featured the Cowboys and
their one playoff game brought in 48.5 million viewers, the most
for any TV show since last year’s Super Bowl.
"They just have an incredibly strong national following," said
Jason Maltby, director of national broadcast TV at ad agency
MindShare. “Losing Dallas is definitely a minus for them.”
The Falcons have little national presence. In their first Super Bowl
appearance in 1999, they were easily defeated by the Denver Broncos
in what was the least-viewed Super Bowl of the past 20 years with
83.7 million viewers.
“Atlanta just hasn’t been there a lot, and while Matt Ryan is
definitely a premiere QB ... he’s just not as well known,” Maltby
said.
The advertising market has been slower this year due to the lower TV
ratings and increased advertiser spending on the U.S. presidential
election and Summer Olympics in 2016, according to a media buyer
with knowledge of the negotiations.
Fox did not immediately respond when asked for an update on ad
sales.
(Reporting by Tim Baysinger; Editing by Bill Trott)
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