TiVo Report Shows Super Bowl, Ads Got Huge Audience; Sexy, Funny Ads Still Drew Most Enthusiastic Viewership
McCartney's Tamer Halftime Show Keeps More Viewers Tuned In Compared to Last Year's Halftime and
ALVISO, CALIF. (February 7, 2005) - TiVo (NASDAQ:TIVO) said this year's Super Bowl and the commercials within it got the typical huge global audience as in years past. But despite efforts to scale back tastelessness and sex in the game and advertising, the commercials that pushed the envelope the furthest still drew the most enthusiastic viewership, according to TiVo’s annual audience measurement of the big game.
"The Super Bowl is a totally different viewing experience for families that have the command and control of TiVo to pause and replay the most favorite parts of the game," said Matt Wisk, TiVo Chief Marketing Officer. "This year's big game once again drew what will probably be the largest global television audience of the year, and Super Bowl advertisers benefited once again from this visibility. But marketers who walked the finest line on taste still had the most success in getting viewers to sit up and take notice."
The highest spike in commercial replay activity during the entire game was recorded during the one commercial that aired during the game that most resembled some of the most criticized spots from last year. The first few seconds of the commercial from GoDaddy.com, which featured a “wardrobe malfunction” of its own were the most replayed moments of any commercial in the game, according to TiVo.
On the other hand, the "tamer" halftime performance actually retained more viewers than the heavily promoted hip hop halftime from last year’s big game. Former Beatle Paul McCartney’s halftime show on the whole had about 5 percent more viewers compared to last year’s halftime show.
A fourth quarter interception by Patriot’s linebacker Ted Bruschi that sealed the game for the defending world champions was the most viewed play of the game, according to TiVo.
The highest replayed moments of the game didn’t take place during a commercial or during the game. Thousands of TiVo subscribers replayed the moment when a phone number was displayed on screen that viewers could use to cast their own votes for the Super Bowl MVP.
TiVo’s audience measurement analysis is based on aggregated data from a sample of 10,000 anonymous TiVo households. TiVo viewership information gauges the interest in programming content by measuring the percentage of the TiVo Super Bowl audience watching in “play” speed.
TiVo Top Ten Super Bowl Commercials
- Emerald Nuts – Unicorn
- Anheuser Busch - Designated Driver
- GoDaddy.com - Censorship Hearing
- Diet Pepsi - Cindy Crawford Eye Catcher
- Ameriquest – Robbery
- Careerbuilder.com - Monkey Brown-Nosing
- Tabasco – Burn
- Fed Ex - Super Bowl Commercial Formula
- Paramount Pictures - War of the Worlds
- Anheuser Busch - Thank You to Troops
For more information from TiVo on Super Bowl viewership, please visit www.tivo.com/biggame.
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