Nielsen demographic data reveals that significant gains in minority viewership were contributing factors to Sunday’s record audience of 106.5 million Super Bowl viewers.
Hispanic outreach has been a focus of the NFLโs marketing strategy, and it may be paying off.ย Hispanic household ratings were up 9%.ย About 8.3 million viewers (44% of them female) in U.S. Hispanic households saw the game.
African American household viewership was up 4%, as 11.2 million viewers (48% female) within black households tuned in to watch.
Nielsen also found that higher-income households were more likely to tune in to Super Bowl XLIV. ย A whopping 74% of $500K+ homes tuned in to the game,ย compared to 45% of all households. And with each step down the income ladder, viewership declined, with households that bring in $10K or less averaging a 30.5% household rating.
The Super Bowl continues to skew to male viewers, with men representing almost 55% of viewers. Nevertheless, anย estimated 48.5 million females watched the game, up 4.3 million from last yearโs contest. Over the last five years,ย the total number of femaleswatching the gameย has climbed 17%.ย Meanwhile,ย an estimatedย 58 million men watched the Super Bowl, up 3.5 million year-over-year.
A look at age/gender demographics showed that viewers of both genders exhibited a similar viewing arc: generally, the older the viewer, the moreย likely they tuned into the game.
And one final note that mightย interest pet owners (andย pet product advertisers!):ย viewers who ownย a dog or cat had 18% higher Super Bowl ratings than those with no dog or cat.
