CBS may have failed to set a new ratings record with its broadcast of Super Bowl 50, but the network’s live stream of the Broncos-Panthers melee established a high water mark for alternative distribution of the big game. The network said its live stream averaged 1.4 million users per minute, shattering the earlier record held by NBC Sports’ over-the-top service, Live Extra.
Super Bowl 50 And Its Lasting Tech Legacy
Super Bowl 50 is in the books and with it a massive effort that arguably will reshape the nature of Super Bowl operations for years to come. Why? Simply because of the sheer number of firsts at this year’s big game that might be here to stay.
The big game scores a 49.0 rating in metered-market households, behind only last year’s record-setting contest. More accurate numbers will be released later today.
The cost of a 30-second ad is $5 million, and marketers are wrestling with how best to get their money’s worth.
Among the innovations CBS Sports has on tap for Sunday’s game at Levi’s Stadium (the control room is above) is a combination of CBS’s super high-res EyeVision 360 camera system, which gives viewers a 360 degree replay perspective on game action, and its virtual first-down and end-zone lines. “If the situation is right, out of the first-down line or end-zone line we are going to bring up vertically a [virtual] transparent pane of glass,” says Ken Aagaard, engineering EVP. “As you revolve around, you can actually see if the ball or the player broke that pane of glass.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Lady Gaga is set to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl on Sunday. The NFL told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Gaga […]
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KPIX Gets Inside Scoop On Super Bowl City
Super Bowl 50 kicks off at 3:35 p.m. PT Sunday, which means that by 6 that morning the CBS Sports compound of 12 trailers at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco will be buzzing with all the electricity that 32 miles of cable can carry. There are 70 cameras in the stadium, including eight pylon-cams in the end zones, and maybe 100 cameras in all, topped by a cam on the replica Space Needle at California’s Great America next door.
A replay system will give viewers a 360-degree perspective and higher resolution than previously ever seen for the game. Thirty-six cameras strung around the upper deck of Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., can freeze the moment and revolve around the play before continuing to show the scene. Viewers on Feb. 7 will be able to check out the quarterback’s view from the pocket to other players’ perspectives on the field, and it can be animated, too.
Acura is returning to the Super Bowl after a four-year absence. The Honda-owned brand will run a spot in the first quarter that will feature the NSX supercar, which begins shipping this spring.
CBS is keeping a few of its last available in-game Super Bowl spots available in anticipation of the inevitable zero-hour bid from a movie studio desperate to court the favor of the year’s biggest TV audience. A last-second buy for 60 seconds of airtime would fetch well north of the $10 million CBS says the same investment would have cost back in August.
Katy Perry starred in the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history earlier this year, when more than 118 million viewers tuned in to see her perform with Lenny Kravitz and her now-famous dancing sharks. Previous halftime headliners include Bruno Mars, Prince, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and the Rolling Stones.
Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show has snagged the cushiest timeslot in all of TV, immediately after CBS’s broadcast of the Super Bowl, marking the first time a latenight series will air live immediately after the game.
Super Bowl 50 and ad rates at $5.0 million per 30-second spot? For CBS, there’s a symmetry to those numbers, and that’s what the network is likely to hit the market with, according to several media executives. The price would be a record high for Super Bowl advertising, and about 10% higher than the rate card NBC used for this year’s game.
