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Writer's pictureSue Leonard
Feb 11, 20235 min read

Super Bowl or Puppy Bowl?

I’ve never been a Super Bowl fan. Or a football fan. I don’t know Drew Brees from Drew Barrymore, the Arizona Cardinals from the St. Louis Cardinals, or the NFL from the NHL. If given a choice between the Super Bowl and the Puppy Bowl, I’d pick the Puppy Bowl. (1)


I’m in the minority. The Super Bowl is the most-watched TV show, estimated by Nielsen Media Research as having almost 92 million viewers. (2) That’s ½ the people in the US over 18 and almost exactly the number of males. Females watch, too, so that means even some males don’t watch.


Why is the Super Bowl so popular? It doesn’t seem to matter much what teams are playing. Some Super Bowls are slightly more popular than others, but they all rate as the most-watched TV show of the year, no matter what team is playing. Some of my female friends said they watch if a team they like is playing or if there is some cute guy like Tom Brady playing.


Hubby and I aren’t big football fans, but for several years we speed-watched the game with friends. We’d DVR the game and play it two hours after the game started at speed 3, slowing only for good plays, commercials, and the halftime show. Watched that way, the Super Bowl plays like the Keystone Kops with players clumsily zipping from one end of the field to the other. Even the cat loved it.


The eye4 group, a marketing group in Indianapolis, IN, sums up the reasons why people watch the Super Bowl: Fan of football, Food, and Fun (commercials and half-time show). (3)




Other than the game itself, the second reason people watch the game is food. The chance to party and eat; the more fattening, the better. An excuse to blow your weekly calorie and fat allotment. Looking for recipes, I bypassed Martha Stewart. Her recipes are too frou-frou and complex (unless it was a Snoop Dog recipe). The Today site had fun, easy, and the requisite fattening recipes: Maple-Bacon popcorn, chili cheese tater tot nachos, sausage puffs, pizza bombs, and wings, of course. (5) Now, that would get me to watch the Super Bowl.


Our Super Bowl party hostess this year understands some people are just in it for the food so she has a non-fan area where guests can do other activities: puzzles, games, and coloring, still enjoy the food and maybe watch the halftime. Brilliant!


In the fun category, people watch the Super Bowl for commercials or halftime show. I’ve lost interest in the commercials over the years. They don’t seem as funny as they used to be. I think I’ve aged out. They seem to be geared toward 18-34-year-olds. (6) One source says the bulk of watchers are under 34, but they are getting their statistics from FaceBook. (6) Another marketing survey shows that 18-24-year-olds are only slightly more likely to watch than the 65+ group. (7) The people doing the commercials forget that seniors are a lucrative target audience, with $3.2 trillion in spending power and 51% of consumer spending. (8) Maybe they think seniors don’t watch the Super Bowl. The only somewhat recent Super Bowl commercial I enjoyed was Snicker’s Betty White Commercial.

Betty White Commercial - NBC4 New York


The commercials are mainly for beer, snack foods, and technology such as cryptocurrency. I think several companies are missing a bet. Some innovative company that provides senior products such as hearing aids, reading glasses, or support socks could make a killing.



Miss the Budweiser Clydesdale Ads - Born A Donkey - Ad Age


Even if the commercials are fascinating, you don’t have to watch the game to see them. You can see many of the commercials beforehand on GMA and Today, or after the game on YouTube.


My three favorite ads, that I’ll roll the DVR back to watch, weren’t ever on the Super Bowl:

  1. Chewy’s "The Peanut Butter Box is Here". Ralph, a Saint Bernard, chants “the peanut butter box is here” to his buddy Giorgio, a chihuahua. The commercial has everything: cute animals, cute dialog, and Ralph’s goofy chant all make you happy. It’s so popular you can even get Ralph’s chant as a ringtone.

  2. The Progressive "A Pet Too Far" ad with puppies and kittens. When spokesperson Flo tells Charlie all the cute animals are too much. Charlie says, “Well, somebody ought to break the news to mittens, she’s a diva.” Then Mittens, in a band uniform and a crooked hat, lets out a kitten mew. Who can resist such cuteness? (I hesitate to mention Progressive ads because I hate their "Becoming Your Parents" ads (see Boomer Bashing).

  3. The Capital One Commercial with Slash, Guns n Rose’s lead guitar player auditioning with his famous riff from Sweet Child of Mine. Love that riff, and Slash is so cute when he responds, “Oh, Cool” when told he’s “in.”



Finally, halftime shows draw some viewers. Maybe it’s just me, but nowadays the halftime shows are overproduced spectaculars. I’d rather watch a regular performance on TV or DVD. Below are links to several of the top-rated halftime shows.


We probably won’t watch the 2023 Rhianna halftime show at the party. She is not popular with the senior set. Rhianna may not be on your top 10 playlist, or on any playlist, but she is a talented performer and singer. I have three Rhianna songs in my music library. (9) Also, two years ago she was named the youngest self-made billionaire – mainly from her enterprises such as Fenty Cosmetics. (10) You have to admire someone who comes from Barbados from somewhat humble beginnings who makes it to the top. You go, girl!


So no matter how you choose to spend Super Bowl Sunday, watching the entire event or watching only the game, the commercials, or the halftime show, or not watching any part of the Super Bowl, have a great Sunday. And don’t hop on the scales for a few days.


References


  1. Puppy bowl - https://www.discovery.com/shows/puppy-bowl with a kitty halftime.

  2. Super Bowl LV Draws Nearly 92 Million Viewers, Nielsen.com, February 2021

  3. 4 Reasons to Watch the Super Bowl, eye4 group,

  4. Understanding Super Bowl Audiences, MiQ Marketing, January 28, 2020

  5. Erica Chayes Wida, 34 Best Super Bowl snack recipes to fuel your team, Today.com, Jan 10, 2023

  6. Adlava, Who Watches Super Bowl Commercials According to Data?, Adlava, January 31, 2017

  7. Alex Silverman, Super Bowl Viewership Poised to Increase This Year Thanks to Gen Zers, Millennials, Morning Consult, February 8, 2022

  8. Tony Coray, How to Market to Seniors, SheerID, November 18, 2022

  9. Rhianna: Songs: Love on the Brain, FourFiveSeconds (Paul McCartney & Kanye West), Love the Way You Lie, A powerful song, in collaboration with Eminem (the writer of the song) that gives recognition and insight into domestic violence. It’s worth a listen (or several to get the meaning and impact). Rhianna was a victim of domestic violence from her partner at the time Chris Brown.

  10. Madeline Berg, Fenty’s Fortune: Rhianna is Officially a Billionaire, Forbes, August 4, 2021

Commercials

Super Bowl Halftime Shows

  1. Joe Lynch, Taylor Weatherby, Hannah Dailey, 13 Best Super Bowl Halftime Shows, Billboard, January, 18, 2023,

  2. Jonelle La Foucade, A Definitive List of the 10 Greatest Superbowl Halftime shows of all time, USA Today, February 8, 2023


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