02/06/18: NBC brought in 103 million viewers for the Super Bowl, down from previous years

Good morning. It’s Tuesday February 6, 2018 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

NBC’s Super Bowl score for the Eagles’ upset over the Patriots… 103.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen Fast National numbers with a Total Audience delivery of 106 million across all platforms. Those numbers are down by about 8 million from last year’s game but still rank in the top ten all-time telecasts. Viewership peaked at 112.3 million from 10-10:15p during the fourth quarter. The game did score the record as the most live-streamed Super Bowl ever, delivering an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 2.02 million viewers via the NBC Sports app, NBCSports.com, and other platforms while NBC Sports Digital’s live stream saw fans consume 633.7 million live streaming minutes of Super Bowl Sunday coverage. More notes on the digital impact of the game can be found below.

“With an all-time Top 10 audience, the Super Bowl once again proved that it’s the most dominant and consistent property on television,” said Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Broadcasting & Sports. “Super Bowl LII delivered for all of our partners, and provided us with the unique opportunity to give America a look ahead at the Olympic Winter Games, which begin live on NBC this Thursday night.”

Meanwhile, TiVo’s annual post-game report broke out its Top 10 Commercials:

PepsiCo: Doritos Blaze vs. Mountain Dew Ice: “Battle”
NFL: “Board Games”
Pringles: “Wow”
Michelob: “The Perfect Fit”
Squarespace: “Make It Happen”
M&Ms: “Human”
Febreze: “The Only Man Whose Bleep Don’t Stink”
Movie Trailer: “Solo: A Star Wars Story”
Tide: “It’s a Tide Ad”
Tourism Australia: “Dundee: This Isn’t a Movie”

ON THE AIR

Meanwhile, with football season over, FOX Sports is revving up its plans for the return of NASCAR, announcing plans for its 18th consecutive season of coverage starting with Daytona Speedweeks, and the Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 18 at 2:30p. Live coverage begins at 1p with FOX NASCAR Sunday, preceded by NASCAR Raceday at 11a on the channel. The Daytona 500 will see Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon, and play-by-play announcer Mike Joy on microphone duties, with Larry McReynolds. From pit road will be reporters Jamie Little, Regan Smith, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum. Chris Myers hosts FOX NASCAR Sunday and the network’s coverage from the Hollywood Hotel mobile studio alongside Michael Waltrip, Darrell Waltrip and Gordon. Speedweeks coverage kicks off Saturday on FS1 with Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Practice for The Clash at Daytona at 10:30a.

SHOWTIME Sports detailed plans to present the heavyweight world championship unification between undefeated IBF and WBA World Champion Anthony Joshua and unbeaten WBO World Champion Joseph Parker on March 31 live on SHOWTIME. With the addition of the bout, all four heavyweight world championship belts will be at stake in the same month on the network. Joshua vs. Parker marks the second heavyweight championship unification in history between undefeated world titleholders and is promoted by Matchroom Boxing in association with Duco Events.

NBA on TNT regular season coverage offers two doubleheaders this week, beginning with tonight’s Players Only telecast between the Wizards/76ers at 8p with Brent Barry, Grant Hill, Derek Fisher and reporter Caron Butler on the call. The action will be followed by Thunder/Warriors at 10:30p, with a talent lineup of Greg Anthony, Reggie Miller, Rip Hamilton and reporter Dennis Scott. Thursday will then see the Celtics/Wizards at 8p and Thunder/Lakers at 10:30p.

Time’s up!! Today is the last day to enter the Cynopsis Sports Awards, and don’t miss out on our concierge service to help you enter. We will once again be honoring the best in the business in production, marketing, digital and more. Don’t miss out on our new categories for 2018, including: Awareness Campaign for a Social Good Initiative; Event of the Year for a Breakthrough Sport; League of the Year for a Breakthrough Sport; Live Coverage of a Breakthrough Sport; Reality Series; Shining Stars (individual); Shining Stars (team/company); and Social Good TV Special or Episode along with Esports Event of the Year. Get your work in NOW by clicking here.

Back to the Super Bowl (oh, there will be more). NBC announced that that an equipment failure was responsible for the 20-second blackout that occurred during a commercial break during the game, noting that “No game action or commercial time were missed.”

NBC is teaming up with Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia for The Titan Games, a 10-episode slate from Universal Television Alternative Studio, A. Smith & Co. Productions and Seven Bucks Productions that will offer “everyday people the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete in epic head-to-head challenges designed to test mind, body and heart. Eps will see competitors step inside an arena and put themselves to the ultimate test by facing one of six reigning Titans where they will battle opponents. If a contender can defeat one of the existing Titans, they will take their place as a member of the Titan group.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

It’s Deadline Day!

The Cynopsis Sports Media Awards

Don’t miss out on the Cynopsis Sports Awards, once again honoring the best in the business in production, marketing, digital and more. We’ve got a few new categories for 2018, including: Awareness Campaign for a Social Good Initiative; Esports Event; League of the Year for a Breakthrough Sport; Live Coverage of a Breakthrough Sport; Reality Series; Shining Stars (individual); Shining Stars (team/company); and Social Good TV Special or Episode. Get your work in NOW

Enter by 11:59pm ET!

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

The Big Ten Conference and Big Ten Network inked a multi-year agreement that makes finance company Sofi the presenting sponsor of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament. SoFi will be the on-site tournament sponsor and present the on-air coverage of all 10 tournament games televised on BTN. The tournament tips off on Feb. 28. “This type of partnership delivers multiple points of access and puts SoFi in a position to connect with both Big Ten fans and alumni through a comprehensive approach,” said Jim Reeder, vice president of sales at Big Ten Network. “In addition to utilizing BTN’s linear and digital platforms, SoFi will now be on-site at a championship event with the added ability to promote their brand on campus. In the current media environment, that type of scalable solution can make all of the difference.”

Big Machine Vodka ordered up a deal to serve as the title partner for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard is slated for Sept. 9 and serve as the finale to the Cup Series regular season.

The Atlanta Super Bowl LIII Host Committee is now on the clock preparing for the game to be played in Atlanta on Feb. 3 next year at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Atlanta Super Bowl LIII Host Committee introduced a video at the press conference titled, “We Are ATL,” and showcased a color palette will be “electric red and deep blue” to “represent the bright, bold and vibrant energy of Atlanta’s thriving culture and the dramatic architecture of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.”

DIGITAL & STREAMING

Extending the numbers for the Super Bowl were Twitter and Facebook. Twitter reports that the top Tweeted Moments of the Super Bowl, measured by how many Tweets per minute each play/moment had, was led by the Eagles officially winning the game, followed by Tom Brady’s fumble and Zack Ertz touchdown being upheld.

On Facebook, the most talked-about players were: Tom Brady, Nick Foles, Carson Wentz, Brandin Cooks and Zach Ertz. The most viewed video was from the NFL, featuring Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. recreating a scene from Dirty Dancing, while the top five countries discussing the game were: USA, Mexico, Canada, Philippines and Brazil.

NASCAR announced a new fantasy game inspired by the competition format, accessible via NASCAR.com and the NASCAR Mobile app. NASCAR Fantasy Live now follows the NASCAR official scoring system, allowing players to make in-race driver substitutions with incentives for correctly predicting stage wins, race wins and more. “In NASCAR, every lap matters,” said Tim Clark, managing director, NASCAR Digital Media. “The new NASCAR Fantasy Live game reflects the lap-by-lap intensity of modern NASCAR racing by giving fans the opportunity to strategize and adjust their driver lineups in real-time during races.”

USA Wrestling and Flosports announced that State College, PA, would serve as the second location to host the inaugural Final X series, taking place on June 16. Final X will determine the 2018 U.S. senior world teams in men’s and women’s freestyle.

ESPORTS

European esports heavyweight Fnatic named Nick Fry, former CEO of the Mercedes AMG Formula One Team, as the team’s Head of Commercial Strategy. He will now help the brand hit its next stage of growth and expand its global footprint where Fnatic will look to “innovate its partnership proposition for brands”

Corsair locked in a sponsorship with BIG, an esports organization based in Berlin and will now be outfitting BIG with performance gaming keyboards, mice, and mouse pads to continue their ascension. “Millions of dedicated gamers worldwide compete to get better every day, yet only a few manage to reach the top to play against the best teams and players in the world,” said Daniel Finkler, CEO of BIG. “Ensuring you have the right equipment to compete is essential to keep up with the best. With CORSAIR on our side, we’ve equipped our team with the fastest performance gaming peripherals to give us the edge, and are proud to represent CORSAIR with our professional esports athletes.”

THE MAIN EVENT

Thunder/Warriors on TNT at 10:30p.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

The Cynopsis Short Form Video Festival

March 7, 2018 | SVA Theatre – NYC

Incredible screenings, interesting panels & networking all in one afternoon…

AGENDA:
1:45 – 2pm (Registration)

2 – 3:40pm (Panels)

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WATCH OUR SIZZLE REEL + REGISTER YOUR TEAM

ON THIS DAY in 1958: Ted Williams signs with the Red Sox.

In the Know: The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City featured “Light the Fire Within” as its official song. Who performed the song? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Who is the only American to ever medal in cross-country skiing at the Olympics? Answer: Bill Koch. Kudos: Bruce Jackson-Disney and ESPN Media Networks/NY; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; B. David Ridpath-Ohio University/Athens; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Lance Phegley-Texas Runner and Triathlete magazine/Houston; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank

Later – Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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