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My take on the Super Bowl Half time show and the audience

SomeRadioGuy

SomeRadioGuy

I will absolutely be watching the regular Super Bowl Half Time Show for the first time ever, though I won't be watching the game... football simply doesn't interest me, never has, no matter what.

Has the controversy over the choice made me decide to watch it? Sure, I'll admit that and I've been hearing alot about Bad Bunny over time but never really experienced his music, so I want to.

BTW, I could honestly careless, personally, about the politics of this event.... my opinion on it is based solely on looking at the Super Bowl performance as a radio station program director and thinking about audiences ... what the Super Bowl has had vs what it needs and knowing what certain performers will bring.

To be fair/honest, I like and listen to some of the TPUSA performers and have quite a bit and still will most likely.... so my opinion is not a case of simply not liking the TPUSA artists or "poopooing" them now "or in the future because of the position they took during the Super Bowl.

I don't like or hate Bad Bunny, but it's not because any perception I have of him personally, I don't know enough about him to make that judgement. I'm simply making a call based upon thinking like a program director.

Someone who will be watching the TPUSA alternate halftime show said, "Sheeeeeeiiiiiiiiiittttttttt!!!!. I bet you it will be the lowest rated Superbowl halftime show ever." So I'm taking that friendly bet of putting my money where my mouth is with him.

Will it be the highest rated in the US? Posssssssibbllly... but I don't think so. will it be in the top 10 the US? I think more possibly than the highest rated due the the division surrounding the choice and people watching to support it but not likely in the top 10.

I based upon the popularity of Bad Bunny in general before this controversy and the hot chatter since this controversial decision was announced this show will be just outside the top 10

I was talking top spanish radio programming guru Ben Reed and he said it'll be one of the if not the highest rated Super Bowl half time shows internationally to which I absolutely agree.

Bad Bunny is HOT across the world and has bigger listening numbers by himself then all of the artists of the TPUSA Show combined.

Based on spotify data, Bad Bunny has 87.5 million listeners. According to that same data, the TPUSA performers have about 17 million listeners.

The Super Bowl ABSOLUTELY NEEDS a YOUNGER AND MORE DIVERSE audience if its to succeed and grow in 5, 10, 20 years. The Super Bowl is at a cross roads of sorts like country music was 10-15 years ago when it became pop/bro country.

Country music has done what its done and the artists who are popular now are popular in some cases because they attract a much younger, diverse audience. I admit, some country music is very pop sounding and theres some cross over.

The Super Bowl needs that same boost that country music had about 15 years ago when going for a young more diverse audience.

As a program director, you have to look at things from a purely factual stand point regardless of your personal preferences/likes/dislikes/opinion, which is something I am exceptional at doing. Ask anyone who truly knows me, even some on the right and they can say that. (Now, are my facts and my gut instinct wrong? Sure, absolutely, it happens!)
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
As a program director, you have to look at things from a purely factual stand point
Click to expand...

Yep, and for that reason we've been promoting the game all week. There is nothing in popular culture that compares, that brings as many people together as the super bowl. It's about "shared experience." Although that may change today.

Here's the difference between programming for a radio station vs. programming for the super bowl: Radio is programming to individuals and the super bowl is programming for groups. Why? Super Bowl watching parties. People don't listen to radio the way they watch the super bowl. I saw one statistic that 121 million people plan to hold watch parties. 18 million will go to sports bars. When you watch in groups, you give up control of the remote control. I expect most people will stick with the official halftime, because that's the channel the game is on. They may not listen, because they're going to the bathroom or refilling their glass. But I expect most will stay with the official channel.

nrf.com

Super Bowl | NRF

NRF's Super Bowl survey looks at how many U.S. adults plan to celebrate the big game.
nrf.com nrf.com

This year, 121.1 million people plan to throw or attend a party, and another 18.2 million plan to watch the game at a bar or restaurant. Total spending on food, drinks, apparel, decorations and other purchases for the day is expected to reach a record $20.2 billion, or $94.77 per person.
Click to expand...
 
TheBigA said:
Here's the difference between programming for a radio station vs. programming for the super bowl: Radio is programming to individuals and the super bowl is programming for groups. Why? Super Bowl watching parties. People don't listen to radio the way they watch the super bowl. I saw one statistic that 121 million people plan to hold watch parties. 18 million will go to sports bars. When you watch in groups, you give up control of the remote control. I expect most people will stick with the official halftime, because that's the channel the game is on. They may not listen, because they're going to the bathroom or refilling their glass. But I expect most will stay with the official channel.
Click to expand...

TRue, but you still gotta kinda thing like a PD and look at numbers, previous audiences, intended audiences and stuff like that

I dont claim to be an expert, but working at KSKO, i got to know my audience better than about any pd knows their audience in the US.. and it really made me kinda evaluate and learn things about programming
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
I dont claim to be an expert, but working at KSKO, i got to know my audience better than about any pd knows their audience in the US.. and it really made me kinda evaluate and learn things about programming
Click to expand...

Do people in Alaska watch football together or individually?

One of the most interesting experiences I had was going to a sports event where they played my radio station in the stadium during the team warmups. I learned a lot about how people behave in groups and react to radio station programming.
 
TheBigA said:
Do people in Alaska watch football together or individually?

One of the most interesting experiences I had was going to a sports event where they played my radio station in the stadium during the team warmups. I learned a lot about how people behave in groups and react to radio station programming.
Click to expand...

Both, but especially in rural Alaska, i find what could be an individual "event" turned into a group thing because theres not alot to do in winter. Bars, taverns, hotels, homes....
 
People have an innate ability to tune out stuff they don't care about. In a group, they will engage in conversation with people they don't know because they don't care about the football game or the halftime show. That's what we'll see today.

If I was programming either halftime show, I'd say they shouldn't approach it like a music show, but like a TV show. It needs to be visually spectacular from the start. Because most people aren't listening. If you look back at previous super bowl halftimes, they were about the visuals. The musicians flying through the air or coming down from the roof. The music is secondary or even lower. You only have ten minutes, and then it's over. I think Bad Bunny understands that better than Kid Rock.
 
From a non-political ratings standpoint, how are the numbers for something like the game and/or halftime show calculated? Is it minute by minute? I know Nielsen PPMs can detect TV now. If someone is watching the game on Peacock, does the PPM pick that up? Or are the PPM codes for TV only in broadcast/cable form?
 
Do the major streaming platforms encode their content? Or is it just live programming that's also available on the streaming platforms?
 
It certainly was a choice to offer the Super Bowl Halftime performance in a language 85-90% of Americans don't speak.

I knew many/most of Mr. Bunny's hits were in Spanish, but I certainly didn't expect the whole thing to be performed in Spanish.
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
Based on spotify data, Bad Bunny has 87.5 million listeners. According to that same data, the TPUSA performers have about 17 million listeners.
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The stream of the TPUSA show peaked at 5 million viewers. That doesn't include viewers on the various cable channels.

It dropped to around 4 million when Lee Brice came on.

radiofan2023 said:
Do you all think Bad Bunny will have any special guests or will it just be him? I hope he brings out Karol G!
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Special guests were Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.
 
TheBigA said:
The stream of the TPUSA show peaked at 5 million viewers. That doesn't include viewers on the various cable channels.

It dropped to around 4 million when Lee Brice came on.



Special guests were Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.
Click to expand...
Karol G was there! Booyah!

www.billboard.com

Cardi B, Karol G, Jessica Alba & More: Photos of All the Stars Who Joined Bad Bunny on the Field for Super Bowl Halftime Show

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show featured a number of stars joining him on the field. See photos of Cardi B, Karol G and more.
www.billboard.com www.billboard.com
 
I'll be interested in @davideduardo's take on the show. On the one hand, he's *very* conservative; on the other hand, he appears, from postings elsewhere on the site, to be relishing the idea of a Hispanic performer during Super Bowl half time.

As for me, I missed the half-time show and most of the game as well. I did check in to the game every so often but it looked like a runaway so I returned to my taping. Though perhaps I shouldn't have been doing the latter--my deck is now stuck in play; I can't stop it nor remove the tape (both functions are performed by the same button); I can only pause it or turn it off. I'm letting it play until the end of the side it's on to see if it will stop itself.

Whew! When the cassette tape got to its end, the play button kept trying to stop it (one could hear the clicking) but it just wouldn't take. Fortunately, I managed to push the play button then let it go and it stopped. I checked and all functions of my player are quite fine as well as the tape I was using. I *will be able to record more tapes, thankfully.
 
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That halftime show didn't matter because WE WON. WHAT A WIN.
12's forever.

I didn't care for Bad Bunny either. Halftime was a break for me. But it was about the game - being in WA after all. There were many times where we were screaming, cheering, hugging...what an incredible defensive game.

Clydesdale for Budweiser and the Lay's Potato Chips ads were the two best ads of the night. So many AI commercials and ads that weren't memorable.
 
May have gotten 5,000,000 viewers, but Kid Rock hasn't had a big hit in several years. TPUSA would have had a much better outcome with several current country stars, but even then, they probably don't have the income to make it so. Or even w/ Brandon Lake, Forrest Frank, or other hot Christian artists.

I hope we see a country music showcase for Super Bowl LXI. But I'm not holding my breath, as Jay-Z does a lot of the planning. Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs, Jelly Roll and a surprise appearance by Garth would be amazing.

The Puppy Bowl was cute as always. Caught bits of it.
 
I mentioned earlier that most people will stick with the official halftime show, because it's easy. Apparently that's what the president did too:

abcnews.go.com

Trump calls Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show a 'slap in the face to our country'

President Donald Trump criticized Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime show, calling it "absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER," in a post on Truth Social.
abcnews.go.com abcnews.go.com

He had an alternative halftime show that was done by his friends for his benefit, and he didn't watch it. What does that say?
 


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