DETROIT – It's the biggest television event of the year and Super Bowl XLIX on NBC was the most-watched show in U.S. television history. It definitely scored big for Local 4. The game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks garnered a 55 household rating/71 household share -- 6 rating points more than last year's 49 household rating on WJBK.
Overall viewing levels during the game were up 10% over last year and 77% of all households had their TV on during the 6:30 to 10:10 p.m. time period (compared to 70% in 2014). Each rating point translates to 18,400 households.
More than one million households in our market watched the game – that's nearly two million viewers in metro Detroit -- or for comparison, 27 sold-out Ford Fields lined up next to each other. Ford Field estimated attendance is 65,000.
Super Sunday was a super storm for Metro Detroit
At the same time Metro Detroiters were gearing up for and watching the big game, the region was hit with a historic winter storm that dropped one and half feet of snow on parts of Michigan. Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit worked around the clock to keep viewers informed of the snowy conditions. Due to NBC's all-day Super Bowl coverage, the Local 4casters used ClickOnDetroit to issue hourly updates and special weather webcasts.
The combination of the Super Bowl and this weather event garnered huge ratings and visitors for Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit.
NBC's post-Super Bowl telecast of The Blacklist captured the biggest overall audience for a scripted show in more than 10 years, averaging a 17.8 HH rtg/29 share. The show now airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m.
Viewers stayed with Local 4 throughout the night, even with the late start time of 11:39 p.m., giving WDIV's top-rated newscast, Local 4 News at 11, a 14.7 HH rtg/28share.
The special Sunday episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon was the most-watched post-Super Bowl late night talk show in people meter history.
ClickOnDetroit delivered 2.5 million page views and more than half a million unique visitors.
Coverage continued on Monday morning with Local 4 News Today which started a half hour earlier at 4 a.m. In addition to team coverage of the aftermath of the snowstorm, Local 4caster Brandon Roux and Local 4 Traffic Reporter Ashlee Baracy hosted the Carcast at 7 a.m., which is a streaming audio program with up-to-the-minute road conditions and forecasts.