CBS Sports Produced A Nearly Flawless Super Bowl Sunday
Issue #143 — It's safe to say CBS Sports set a high bar for Fox Sports to reach when it comes to next year's Super Bowl production.
CBS Sports Produced A Nearly Flawless Super Bowl Sunday
No day on the U.S. calendar reaches the media hype of Super Bowl Sunday. Yes, there is Christmas Day, but the hype for the holiday is usually leading up to it, with the peak of it being Christmas Eve. The same goes for Halloween, which sees a lot of its hype preceding the actual day.
Super Bowl Sunday is different; from the start of the day up until the day wraps up, it just feels different, and for the Super Bowl broadcaster, producing hours’ worth of programming to fuel the hype until kickoff is an enormous challenge.
Some networks struggle in this department. They may produce an excellent broadcast of the game, but the hours before it, that’s where they fumble.
CBS Sports, which aired the Super Bowl, nearly nailed it on both efforts. They managed to program the hours leading up to the game with content that felt natural and comfortable to its abilities.
They did not treat the hours before the game as a pre-awards show. Instead, they focused on the upcoming game with features on the players, coaches, and performers spread out throughout the afternoon.
CBS Sports started the day at 11:30 a.m. ET with NFL Slimetime, a show which airs on Nickelodeon. This year was the first time there would be an alternate telecast of the game airing on Nickelodeon, so it was only fitting they honored that feat with a show dedicated to the slime.
At noon ET was the annual Road to the Super Bowl show, which highlights the route the two Super Bowl teams took during the season to get to the final game. This was followed at 1 p.m. ET by the documentary You Are Looking Live!, an excellent piece of programming that looked at the origins of the pre-game program The NFL Today. This type of programming could live independently and be shown outside of Super Bowl programming.
An expanded edition of The NFL Today aired from 2 p.m. ET until the kickoff show at 6 p.m. It did not waste the additional hours it gained on that day. They moved viewers along in getting them ready for the game, and even when faced with opportunities for cross-promotion, it did not feel overdone and felt natural to the program.
At the start of the kickoff show at 6 p.m. ET, there was a goose-pimply opener featuring the legendary Frank Sinatra that was so well produced that it should have immediately led to the start of the game. It perfectly captured and relayed the hype for the upcoming game. It met all emotional quotas — it got you teary-eyed and hyped up for a game that the nation had been waiting on for two long weeks.
It perfectly captured the mood of the day.
The game itself was well produced, with CBS Sports not going overboard with its use of its gizmos and flashy tech, save for the touchdown animation, which felt out of place for the network, as it was something one would expect out of Fox Sports but not CBS Sports.
The scorebug was not obtrusive nor flashy, but it did feel a bit bland.
Jim Nantz and Tony Romo smoothly guided viewers through the five quarters of the game, though Romo received some hits for how he called the game's final moments.
But CBS Sports should be proud of how it produced Super Bowl Sunday. An average of 123 million viewers watched it across the various platforms, making it the most-watched event outside of the lunar landing of 1969.
Fox Sports, which gets to broadcast the game in 2025, has its work cut out. It may have Tom Brady, one of the greatest players of all time, in the booth calling the game, but it needs to produce a Sunday afternoon's worth of quality programming and broadcast a near-flawless game to snatch the crown away from CBS Sports.
(CBS Sports PR/X, CBS Sports Golazo/X, Phifer Football/Threads, Clay Wendler/X,Paramount Press Express)
SUPER BOWL LVIII RECAP
Super Bowl LVIII: CBS Sports gets an extra $60 million as a result of the game going into overtime. (Sportico)
Super Bowl LVIII: Nickelodeon's alternate game broadcast was a success. (Adweek)
Super Bowl LVIII: How was Tony Romo’s analysis during the game? (Sports Illustrated)
Super Bowl LVIII: How was Tony Romo’s analysis during the game? (The Athletic)
Super Bowl LVIII: Which streaming service experienced the least latency during the game? (NextTV)
Super Bowl LVIII: Cox Media Group Stations were back on DirectTV before the start of the game. (Broadcasting+Cable)
Super Bowl LVIII: CBS Sports had a backup announcing crew of Tiki Barber, Ross Tucker, and Brent Stover. (Awful Announcing)
Super Bowl LVIII: Spanish-language broadcaster TelevisaUnivision produced the game for two Latino markets. (Sports Video Group)
Super Bowl LVIII: Listen and watch the various calls of the game-winning touchdown. (Awful Announcing)
Super Bowl LVIII: What were the reactions to the Super Bowl score bug? (Awful Announcing)
Super Bowl LVIII: CBS Mornings earned a rare victory the morning after the game. (TVNewser)
RECAP
ABC News’ Kim Godwin Is Facing The Heat
Kim Godwin has been leading ABC News for nearly three years, and her tenure helming the news division has not been as smooth as she would have liked. As the first Black woman to lead one of the “Big Three” news divisions, Godwin is seen as a trailblazer and proof that someone from the outside can ascend to the top in this cliquish industry. Her management style, however, has not been well received by some within ABC News, leading to many news stories about her supposed expenditure, her hands-off newsroom approach, her senior leadership team shakeup, and the manner in which she handled the negative publicity the news division incurred from T.J. Holmes’ and Amy Robach’s relationship. The latter's management seems to have left a bad taste with the Disney higher-ups as this week; they announced the long-rumored new management structure that places Godwin further away from Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden. This past Wednesday, Debra O'Donnell was named the president, news group and networks. In this role, she will oversee ABC News and ABC Owned Television Stations, which means Godwin will now report to OConnell. This new layer of management diminishes Godwin’s power. Despite all the positive statements from herself, OConnell, and Walden regarding this new structure, her standing at ABC News is on shaky ground. Not helping her case are the worrisome ratings for ABC News’ flagship shows, especially Good Morning America, which in recent weeks was nearly beaten in total viewers by NBC News’ Today and has seen the gap between it and CBS Mornings erode to the point it has been beaten on six occasions this season in the Adults 25-54 demo. Many in the industry are watching for how long Godwin sticks around under this new structure, with obituaries already prepared should it happen sooner rather than later. (The Wall Street Journal, TVNewser)
CBS News Hit With Layoffs, Catherine Herridge, Jeff Pegues Among Those Affected
Sunday night following the Super Bowl, CBS Sports’ parent company, Paramount Global, must have been feeling pretty good about how the game turned out, the ratings it was going to receive, and the expected windfall it received as a result of the many ads it aired during the game. That good feeling quickly turned sour as the media conglomerate announced this past Tuesday that it was initiating layoffs that would affect 800 employees across the company. The layoffs, comprising 3% of its workforce, were not a surprise as CEO Bob Bakish had warned staffers in January of the move, saying that the company needed to operate “leaner” and “spend less.” There is also talk of a rumored takeover, and so the layoffs could be seen as preparation for that. The layoffs affected all Paramount Global divisions, including CBS News, which lost 20 staffers across its operations in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. Those cut included those with on-air roles, including Catherine Herridge, who was a senior investigative correspondent covering national security and intelligence; Jeff Pegues, chief national affairs and justice correspondent; Christina Ruffini, foreign affairs and State Department correspondent; and Pamela Falk, a United Nations correspondent. Herridge and Pegues's departure was noticeable because Herridge was in the middle of a court case for work she did while at Fox News that involved a federal investigation of a Chinese-American scientist. Pegues was the subject of an HR probe as a result of his workplace behavior. (CNBC, Variety, New York Post)
QUICK RECAP
Alex Navalny: How did the news networks cover Alex Navalny’s death? (TVNewser)
Israel-Hamas War: Al-Jazeera crew seriously hurt after Israeli airstrike in Gaza. (Media Guardian)
CNN: Mark Thompson is looking to cut anchor salaries in a major network overhaul. (The Wrap)
Betting: ESPN Bet enters the New York market. (Front Office Sports)
Business: ESPN and College Football Playoff agree to a six-year, $7.8 billion rights extension. (The Athletic)
Distribution: Fox Weather is now available on Hulu plus Live TV and TCLtvPlus. (TVNewser)
Town Halls: Fox News will host town halls with Donald Trump and Nikki Haley ahead of the South Carolina primary. (The Wrap and TVNewser)
Streaming: Could Paramount Plus and Peacock join forces? (Wall Street Journal)
Streaming: Steve Distad could be named the head of the new streaming sports venture. (Wall Street Journal)
Kansas City Shootings: ESPN was slow to react regarding the post-parade shooting. (Awful Announcing)
Kansas City Shootings: How did the networks cover the breaking news situation in Kansas City? (TVNewser)
Out: Street Signs anchor Joumanna Nasr Bercetche departs CNBC. (Joumanna Bercetche/X)
Out: ESPN's Ryan Clark announces that he is a broadcast free agent for now. (Ryan Clark/X)
Sports: How will Tom Brady fare as an analyst for Fox Sports this upcoming season? (The Athletic)
Sports: Snow forces NFL Network's Good Morning Football to go fully remote on Tuesday. (Awful Announcing/X)
Sports: Kenny Smith brought unwanted attention during the NBA’s All-Star Saturday showcase. (The Athletic)
Awards: CNN Audio earns four Ambies nominations. (CNN Communications/X)
Award: ABC News’ David Muir received the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. (TVNewser)
Awards: CBS Sports’ soccer team win six awards at the North American Soccer Business and Media Awards. (CBS Sports PR/X)
Awards: Fox Sports wins two North American Soccer Business and Media Awards. (Fox Sports PR/X)
In: Shannon Sharpe gets a contract extension at ESPN, continuing his duties for the remainder of the NBA season. (ESPN/PR/X)
In: It’s official: JJ Redick is now part of ESPN's lead broadcast team for the NBA. (ESPN Press Room)
In: Kevin Egan becomes the new host of the soccer show MLS 360. (MLS Soccer)
In: NewsNation brings in Geraldo Rivera as a correspondent at large. (TVNewser)
In: Steve Reilly joins CBS News and Stations as a senior investigative data journalist. (Steve Reilly/X)
In: Chris Achilleos joins BBC News as executive news editor, streaming. (BBC Media Centre)
In: Natasha Bertrand has been promoted to correspondent, and Paul Murphy has been promoted to reporter at CNN. (CNN Press Room)
In: Long-term agreement reached between TNT Sports and Reggie Miller. (WBD Press Room)
In: A new ad sales leadership team was announced at Fox News. (TVNewser)
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #143 - 2024