Millions tuned in to watch the Super Bowl ... and Olsen
The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles put on a great show in Glendale at Super Bowl 57 Sunday.
A ton of people watched it — an average of 113 million viewers, according to Nielsen. The number includes viewers on Fox, Fox Deportes and on digital platforms (Fox and NFL properties).
The greatest number of people tuned in, not surprisingly, during Rihanna’s halftime show — an average of 118.7 million viewers. Sunday’s game was the most-streamed in history, Fox said, with an average of 7 million streams.
And 182.6 million people watched all or part of the game. These are preliminary numbers; final figures will be available Tuesday. But there’s no way around it: the Super Bowl was a massive hit.
And if social media and punditry reaction counts (it does), many liked what they saw.
This is no surprise. The Super Bowl is typically the highest-rated TV broadcast in any given year; historically, nine of the 10 most-watched broadcasts were Super Bowls (the 1983 finale of “M.A.S.H.” comes in ninth place). In 2022, an average of 99.18 million viewers watched the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56.
It’s not just the Super Bowl. People are nuts for football. In 2022, 82 of the 100 highest-rated shows on TV were football games.
In addition to the boffo ratings, Twitter reactions to Fox’s broadcast were overwhelmingly positive — particularly the work of analyst Greg Olsen. His work improved throughout the season, but the Super Bowl is a massive stage. And he pulled it off without a hitch.
Olsen’s gusty reaction to the game’s most controversial call
Particularly impressive was his call on the game’s most controversial play, when officials called holding on Eagles defensive back James Bradberry. People went nuts over the call, which may have contributed to the Chiefs’ win, even though after the game Bradberry admitted the infraction.
No matter whether you liked the call, you had to like Olsen’s strong reaction and his unwavering opinion, particularly with late-game pressure in the biggest TV event of the year, and disagreement from Mike Pereira, the former vice president of officiating for the NFL who works as a rules analyst for Fox.
“I think on this stage,” Olsen said, “I think you let them play. … I don’t know, I think you let them play, finish this thing out. I don’t love that call, Mike.”
Olsen yelling at Jerick McKinnon in the finals minutes of the game
Then, with less than two minutes left in the game, the Chiefs’ Jerick McKinnon easily could have run for a touchdown. But one school of thought is scoring that quickly would have given the Eagles the ball back with too much time to score.
“He’s got to get down!” Olsen yelled as McKinnon ran. “He’s got to get down!”
And so he did.
How many people watched Super Bowl 57?
At 113 million viewers, the game wasn’t the most-watched TV show ever, as a Fox executive mused it might be. But it ain’t bad.
Whatever the case, 113 million is a huge number of people who watched the game, a thriller in which the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38-35 with a field goal in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter.
And Greg Olsen’s broadcast made the game even better.
Super Bowl 57 is proof Fox should keep Tom Brady on the bench
Remarkably, it was the first Super Bowl for Olsen and play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt.
There’s a chance it could be their last. Overshadowing the buildup to the game was Tom Brady’s retirement. Fox has signed Brady to a reported 10-year, $375 million contract to work as an analyst. You don’t pay someone record money to be on the B-team.
Olsen has been a good sport about the whole thing, saying he knew what he was signing up for.
Still.
Brady said he will wait until the 2024 season to start calling games. If Olsen’s work for Super Bowl 57 is any indication, he should wait a little longer.