Innovation is Essential for The Changing Sports Landscape: The Case of Super Bowl LV
By Audra Priluck, Vice President, Media & Entertainment | March 16, 2021
Super Bowl LV had the lowest TV rating of any Super Bowl in over 50 years, and it was cause for much hand-wringing. But a focus on television broadcasting obscures the fact that the way people interact with sports is changing, with people embracing video highlights and moving away from watching entire games. And while the way people relate to sports is transforming, our research reveals that the Super Bowl remains by far and away the most popular and exciting cultural and sporting event in America.
Maru recently partnered with Variety magazine to produce an in-depth look into how people relate to sports. Entitled “Sports’ New TV Formula: A Special Report” it offers “an in-depth examination of sports programming and experimentation necessary to capture a new era of fans.”
“Sports are at a critical point,” writes Variety’s Gavin Bridge. “While TV viewership is in a clear state of decline (though still sizable), younger fans are embracing new ways of engaging with leagues with decreasing importance placed on watching games live.” Our research results “depict a radically different type of fan who values brand extensions into areas of interest while placing less value on watching whole games.”
The Super Bowl: the way people relate to the game is changing
The Super Bowl LV is an excellent case study in how the way people relate to the game is changing. But it also stands out as a shining example of how powerful a hold sport can have on the culture.
TV viewing of the Super Bowl was down to 92 million viewers, the lowest number of viewers since 2006. But Super Bowl-related content got 158 million views on YouTube alone. Across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube around 60 Super Bowl LV advertisers generated 592.2 million views on social media across their ads, trailers, and teasers. On social media there were over 4 million mentions of the Super Bowl itself and a total of 7.5 million mentions of all things Super Bowl-related. Clearly, people are not abandoning the Super Bowl.
Even the way people watch on TV is transforming. CBS, who broadcast the game, reported that “Super Bowl LV was the most live-streamed NFL game ever. The average minute audience of 5.7 million viewers was the highest average minute audience for any NFL game and was up +65% vs. last year’s Super Bowl.” Super Bowl Sunday was also CBS All Access’s (now Paramount+) best day ever in terms of new subscriber sign-ups, unique devices logged in, and minutes spent on the network’s streaming service.
The Super Bowl has stand out appeal versus the other big national viewing events
How people connect with the Super Bowl is changing. But its popularity is enduring. We asked Americans to trade-off their desire to watch 15 different iconic sporting and cultural events. We also measured how excited they were about each of these events, using Implicit Association Testing (IAT).
We measured both interest in watching and how exciting people find the event to be, because we believe that understanding the intersection between behavior and emotion is critical.
We start by utilizing passive System 1 tools (in this case IAT) to understand the strength and influence of subconscious connections. That captures the emotions that drive the human decision-making process. Then we layer on choice-based methodologies to replicate how consumers behave when faced with decisions. By evaluating research issues through both System 1 and System 2 lenses, we provide a connected and holistic view of consumer response.
The results could not be clearer.
The Super Bowl is yards ahead of other events, both in terms of implicit excitement and a desire to watch.
The on-going decline in viewing major sporting events can be addressed by radical innovation
The significant decline in television viewership from last year’s Super Bowl is far from unusual in sports. In fact, at 9%, its decline is relatively small. Other sports are faring far worse. There was a steep decline in viewing of the College Football Playoff National Championship (-27%), the World Series (-30%), the Kentucky Derby (-43%), the NBA Finals (-49%), the final round of the Masters (-58%) or the Stanley Cup Final (-61%).
Admittedly this was an unusual year, with seasons stopped and started, and many of the big events held as different times than usual. But in a year in which people are stuck at home, even regular broadcast ratings for all television were down 20%. The times are changing.
As Gavin Bridge writes “what’s clear in Variety Intelligence Platform’s latest special report, ‘Sports’ New TV Formula,’ is that things cannot remain the same for much longer.” Innovation is desperately needed in both sports and the media—particularly at their intersection.
“Sports are at an evolutionary juncture,” says Bridge. “Some will be more adept than others at adapting to suit the tastes of new fans. Decisions made in the next few years will have a magnified impact on the next generation of emerging fans and how they both watch on TV but also engage in general with the leagues.”
Breakthrough innovation should be rooted in the holistic understanding of how people Feel Behave and Think
Radical innovation needs new and stimulating inputs. Maru believes that understanding how people Feel about issues leads to new understanding and ultimately to vibrant decision making.
Maru uses multiple proprietorial techniques to add create this understanding of how people feel about issues. This emotional insight is combined with more traditional measures of how people behave and think to deliver outputs which are a catalyst to innovation.
Maru techniques include our Choice-based Ideation solution which understands the intersection between behavior and emotion.
Choice-based Ideation uses a trade-off approach rooted in behavioral science to effectively replicate how consumers make decisions. Unlike more traditional ideation approaches, this method reveals both how we feel and how we behave to show all elements of the decision-making process including which ideas respondents preferred, which they did not and which they disregarded altogether. By capturing all three elements, you can quickly and accurately identify which ideas to invest in and, more importantly, which to leave behind.
In addition to Choice based ideation Maru clients also draw on our strengths in ethnography, social mention monitoring, and cultural framing to stimulate innovation development.
Of course, innovative approaches need special testing techniques. The Maru innovative Instant Qualitative Environment and our Agile research solution are perfect testing grounds for nascent innovation ideas. Our Concept Connections approach is also a powerful tool for testing more evolved innovation ideas. It is a ground-breaking concept testing methodology, combining traditional attitudinal metrics with implicit and emotional measures to help organizations close the gap between what consumers say and what they do.
All these solutions are powered by HUB, Maru’s proprietary software. This software is unique as it provides study execution with significant efficiencies and deliverables at near real time speed. This allows organizations to test, pivot, iterate, and innovate at the speed of business.
To learn more about how these solutions can help fuel your change, or to learn more about our research on the Super Bowl and other sporting and cultural events, contact me. We at Maru would be happy to work with you to navigate this rapidly changing sports landscape.