The Daily Brief Podcast returns with its (better late than never) first episode of 2020, in which Digital Producer Kaila-Marie Hardaway and Editorial Director Paige Albiniak discuss Super Bowl LIV, its Latina-focused halftime show and the ads that rose to the top as the Kansas City Chiefs turned a 10-point deficit into 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
Super Bowl LIV, which was broadcast on Fox, garnered its first ratings increase in five years with an average of 99.9 million viewers. Last year, CBS averaged 98.2 million viewers with 100.7 million total viewers, the lowest in a decade.
The halftime show assisted that ratings boost as 103 million people tuned in to watch Shakira and Jennifer Lopez share the stage. That’s up 4 percent from last year’s Maroon 5 performance, according to Nielsen and Fox.
Fox used some of the big game’s ad inventory to its advantage by promoting The Masked Singer, which aired its season-three premiere immediately following the game. The premiere, which saw the robot revealed to be rapper Li’l Wayne, landed a total of 23.7 million viewers on Sunday.
Despite not playing in the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2015 season, Tom Brady still made an appearance thanks to Hulu. As a continuation of its “Hulu Has Live Sports” campaign, the streamer tapped the 42-year-old quarterback to make his big announcement—and no, it’s not that he’s retiring.
This year also featured ads from beverage brands Bud Light and Mountain Dew, who comedically touted a new seltzer and sugar-free drink, respectively. We also saw the highly anticipated Doritos commercial—featuring an unexpected dance battle between Sam Elliott and Lil Nas X—which ranked in the top 10 ads from USA Today’s Ad Meter and Ipsos live emotional measurement.
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But it was ads like “Loretta,” which featured an man reminiscing about his late wife with help from his Google device; “Tough Never Quits,” which shows Raiders’ running back Josh Jacobs reflecting on his younger self; and “Be the One,” Microsoft’s story of the Super Bowl’s first female coach; that struck an emotional chord with viewers amid political messages from Trump and Bloomberg, dancing cowboys, and baby peanuts.
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