It was not the showdown many had hoped for, still it turned into the highest rated event ever on American TV . The Seattle Seahawks ran all over the Denver Broncos in a one-sided game — final score 43-8. However, 115 million viewers hung around to watch that blowout on Fox, according to the all important Nielsen ratings yesterday.
The Broncos were flat and cold — but not the halftime performance of Bruno Mars and company. Mars and his special guests, including The Red Hot Chili Peppers — put on a fabulous show and totally rocked the MetLife stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The NFL does not pay halftime performers — but the entertainer is getting a lot of mileage from the appearance in terms of tons of media coverage and a spike in the sales of his Grammy- winning album “Unorthodox Jukebox.”
As always, the TV commercials were a major attraction. My favorites: “Gracie” the little girl who bargains her way to a new puppy with Cheerios, Audi’s Doberman-hybrid spot was, ah, scary funny, Coke’s multi-language rendering of “America the Beautiful,” and that Doritos “Time Machine” TV ad.
The “Time Machine” commercial thrilled a lot of fans and won a million dollars for its creators in the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl”contest. On that winning team and an actor in the commercial, Daved Wilkins, of Burbank. The runner-up ad “Cowboy Kid” aired during the Super Bowl as well and it won $50,000 for Amber Andersen of Ladera Ranch, California. Also, the winners get the opportunity to work on the set of “Marvel’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the upcoming sequel to the 2012 blockbuster movie “Marvel’s The Avengers.”
Time Warner cable dropped a bundled on some of those expensive Super Bowl ads, bragging about its service, however, the company had a major malfunction during the game. Many of the cable company’s users in the Southland, had their television screens go dark for more than an hour! Time Warner says it’s investigating the blackout and is offering some freebies to those customers affected by the blackout.
“Digital TV customers will receive a credit for the cost of an On Demand movie once purchased, and analog customers will receive a $5 gift card. These will be provided automatically; no customer action is necessary,” Time Warner said in a statement, according to a report on the KTLA website. More here.
