Super Bowl goes super well
On the evening of February 11th, two entertainment worlds collided as an average of 123.4 million people tuned in either to watch the Kansas City Chiefs narrowly defeat the San Francisco 49ers… or to see if Taylor Swift would make it in time to witness Travis Kelce's eventual triumph.
Extra points
Indeed, Super Bowl LVIII gained such a large audience that it's only eclipsed by the Apollo 11 moon landing in the annals of the most-watched US broadcasts, surpassing viewership figures for all previous NFL championship showdowns. According to Nielsen, more than 202 million people watched at least part of the game — with the Swiftie Army undoubtedly playing a huge part as female viewership reached an all-time high.
Getting in front of all of those eyeballs demanded a heavy price tag, with brands forking over a staggering $7 million for a mere 30 seconds of airtime. And, when the game kicked into overtime for only the second time ever, CBS was able to air the extra insurance slots it secured during the unexpected commercial breaks, translating to an extra $60 million in sales for the network.
