As the New Year approaches the one thing many of us are looking forward to is the Super bowl. Between the game, the food, and the ads the super bowl has become a staple of American society since it first began at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on January 15, 1967
One of the biggest parts of the super bowl are the ads. Since their increased popularity in the 1980’s, super bowl ads have become as important to the viewers as the game itself. Every year millions of people will watch the game just waiting for the next set of commercials to air. Memories are made around these commercials and hundreds of articles are written rating the best and worst commercials of the year. Companies pay millions of dollars just to get one of these coveted commercial slots. During the last super bowl companies paid about 4.5 million dollars for a 30 second spot. That is a significant increase when compared to companies that paid around $40,000 for a 30-second commercial during the very first super bowl.
Food plays another major part during the super bowl. Besides Thanksgiving super bowl Sunday is the 2nd biggest day of the year for food consumption. During Super Bowl XLIX (49) nearly 43 million people hosted super bowl parties across the U.S and about 13 million people went to their local bars to watch the game. According to the Snack Food Association during the super bowl Americans will scarf down roughly 11.2 million pounds of potato chips, 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips, 3.8 million pounds of popcorn, nearly 1 billion chicken wings, and 3 million pounds of nuts.
As the only super bowl broadcast on two networks, super bowl I was the start of an American tradition. The first super bowl had 24.43 million viewers on CBS and 26.75 million viewers on NBC for a total of 51.18 million viewers. Since than the super bowl has steadily increased in both viewership and popularity. With an audience of 114.4 million viewers, Super bowl XLIX became the most-watched television program in U.S. history and the highest rated super bowl in the last 30 seasons. Katy Perry's halftime show was also the most-watched performance in recorded Super Bowl history, averaging 118.5 million viewers.
As football season starts winding down and we eagerly await to see if our favorite teams will make it to this hallowed event, stop and take a minute to think about all the wonderful game memories you’ve already made and the ones you hope to make as Super Bowl 50 approaches.
Sources
http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/history
Ads
http://time.com/3685708/super-bowl-ads-vw-the-force/
Food
http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/laces-out/super-bowl-2015-patriots-seahawks-food-consumed-sunday-012815
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/01/29/6-numbers-you-need-to-know-for-super-bowl-sunday
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/super-bowl-parties-hike-calorie-counts/story?id=28512733
TV Ratings
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000467823/article/super-bowl-xlix-is-mostwatched-show-in-us-history
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/02/super-bowl-tv-ratings-2015-patriots-seahawks_n_6595690.html
