What is the Super Bowl and why is it so popular in the USA?

On February 11, the 58th Super Bowl, the main match of American football, took place in the United States. How it usually goes and why it is so popular – in the Kommersant material.

What is the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the final match of the season of the National Football League, which is the main championship in American football. The final match is played by the two strongest teams in the championship, the winners of the respective NFC and AFC conferences.

The Super Bowl is one of the most important sporting events in the United States and is considered a national holiday in the United States, with a halo surrounding the match comparable to the Champions League final in Europe.

Held annually on the second Sunday of February. Super Bowl games are designated by a number written in Roman numerals (in 2024, for example, it will be the 58th Super Bowl LVIII).

The winner of the finals receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after the NFL coach who won the first two Super Bowls. Members of the winning team receive championship armbands and then go to a ceremonial meeting with the President of the United States.

How popular is the Super Bowl?

On average, the Super Bowl attracts over 100 million people to their TV screens, and in recent years this figure has not dropped below 110 million. For comparison: regular season games are usually watched by about 16 million viewers, the Grammys and Oscars are watched by 10-20 million each Human.

There are almost never empty seats in the stadiums during the final match; exceptions to the rule are the first game in 1967, as well as the match in 2021, to which only 25 thousand people were allowed in due to Covid restrictions. Now the average cost of a ticket to the game is $10 thousand. The profitability of the Super Bowl, according to Forbes estimates, exceeds $600 million.

The Super Bowl is popular not only as a sporting event: many people watch the halftime performances or commercials. There are references to the Super Bowl in many Hollywood TV shows and films.

The popularity of the Super Bowl is also enjoyed by the television shows that follow it on the airwaves. They expect to capture part of the audience that has not yet moved away from television. The highest ratings were for episodes of Friends and The Office that aired after the Super Bowl, and Family Guy actually premiered the night after the game.

How much does it cost to advertise during the Super Bowl?

The cost of a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl in 2023 exceeded $7 million. For comparison: during the first Super Bowl, the cost of a similar commercial was $37.5 thousand (adjusted for inflation – $350 thousand).

The cost of displaying advertising grew constantly, but at different rates. CBS and NBS, which originally broadcast the Super Bowl, raised prices in line with inflation, and in the 1980s the cost for the first time exceeded $400,000 (about $1 million in today’s money). In 1985, ABC joined the list of Super Bowl broadcasters and doubled its prices. In 2000, the cost of displaying an advertising video for the first time exceeded $2 million and continued to grow. In total, Super Bowl organizers earn over $500 million from commercials alone.

Advertising shown during the Super Bowl is considered the most expensive and prestigious in the world. Marketers in the United States invest the best stories and the most money into these commercials, resulting in advertising, in a sense, being an art. Hollywood movie releases are also often advertised during the Super Bowl halftime show.

What happens during the music break

The Super Bowl break is called the Halftime Show, it lasts 20-30 minutes, of which the artists’ performances take 12-14 minutes. The most popular stars traditionally sing on stage, such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Coldplay and others. The Super Bowl halftime performance has become a career highlight for pop artists. The stars do not receive any fees, but in return the organizers pay for all technical preparations for the show.

Until 1993, student orchestras, cheerleaders and children’s choirs performed at halftime. This all changed due to the low ratings that the broadcast showed in 1992 – Fox managed to attract a significantly larger audience during the halftime match by showing a comedy program with Jim Carrey. Then the organizers of the sporting event invited Michael Jackson, which made the 1993 Super Bowl the most watched show at that time. Since then, some artist performances have attracted even more attention than the game itself.