Who won the Super Bowl?

So, Super Bowl 50 happened if you didn’t know yet. We know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a topic that get’s the conversation going. When we were back to the office on Monday morning, everyone had the same question: Who won? And we all agreed, that it’s the viewers who won last Sunday, February the 7th, and Beyonce of course. And here is why:

CBS was the network in charge of broadcasting Super Bowl 50. Everyone had several options of how to follow the game. The most traditional route and the most popular remained to be tuning in to watch the game via cable. However, CBS seized an opportunity in increasing their viewership numbers by delivering the live stream to every internet connected device for FREE! Along with this plentiful option, Verizon customers could stream the game via the NFL app. Yes, this was not the first time the game was accessible via live-stream; although, it was the first time both the game and commercials breaks were delivered for free in one linear feed.

If any of you reading have cable, the whole experience went without a hitch. Those who opted for antenna options might have dealt with a few glitches. Strong signal of antenna dependent tv sets might have provided you with better quality. And last but not least, cord-cutters and cord-nevers were gifted with freedom of enjoying celebration of the unofficial national holiday anywhere and on any device.

As per CBS Sports Press Release, CBS broke an online viewership record. Perhaps, the audience might have gotten bigger due to all those Super Bowl puppies…monkey babies. Anyway, let’s look at a few more CBS’s records of the big night:

record number 1:

The game peaked in views between 8.30–9pm PM ET. No surprises here, the halftime show took place at those hours, and who would wanted to miss ‘Queen Bee’ Beyonce performing under the ocean blue skies of San Fran. 115.5 Million viewers were tuned in to witness it — comparing with 114 million viewers from last year.

record number 2:

Online viewership was estimated to be just under 4 million. In comparison to the last years 1.3 million, it’s hard to deny that more people are changing their consumption of video entertainment. The number of cord-cutters and cord-nevers are growing pretty fast.

record number 3:

Live-stream ads were sold together with broadcast for 11% more than last year, averaging to about $170,000-per-second of air-time.

record number 4:

The was an incredible variety of platforms included into the list of devices used for streaming the game. Starting with the live stream on the CBSSports web-site, to major mobile and tablet devices, AppleTV, Roku, and Xbox One.

Impressive right? Yes, this is true that there were a few hiccups and issue cord-cutters and cord-nevers faced during the event. Only, if you consider the scale of the event, the strain it puts on both the network, and the resources required to support such a colossal demand, there is hope that future of streaming is off to a good start. And as a final result, everyone wins: teams (maybe the Broncos this past Sunday; sorry for any spoilers), networks, fans, and advertisers (although, not all of them lived up to ours expectations; and where is the commercial that glorified the love and friendship between a golden retriever pup and a horse?)

Decide for yourself; but, it is pretty clear to us that releasing video content over the internet scores more views. Overall, good game everyone, and let’s see how big will the online audience get next year.

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