Charlie Cook On Air – The Super Bowl

Another Super Bowl has come and gone (without the Lions) and what did we learn? First, we cannot trust Pop artists to act responsibly. Madonna appeared to be on her best behavior. In fact, she admitted to being nervous before the performance. That would be good because it implies that she cares. M.I.A. was not nervous, just rude.

What else did we learn? That Miranda Lambert is very cute and can really sing. That Country music was well represented with Mr. and Mrs. Blake Shelton right at the beginning of the game. That Kelly Clarkson also can hit it out of the park with the National Anthem. (Did you know that you could have bet the over/under of 1:34 on the singing of the anthem?) We learned that Faith Hill is…wow!

Over 111 million people tuned in for the game. Well, 111 million people tuned in for the broadcast. A good number of those people happened to be in a room that had the “game” on but really tuned in during the commercials.

Apparently they also tuned into the halftime show. Madonna’s “Give Me All Your Luvin’” was a huge seller on iTunes, just a day after airing on NBC during the Super Bowl and getting a ton of advance play on Clear Channel CHR stations starting last Friday. What is really positive about all of this is that we now know radio and TV can make a song a hit. And the song doesn’t even have to be any good.

The broadcast scored a 40 share of adults 18-49. I was on Facebook during some of the game having fun eavesdropping on people’s comments about the game, but mostly the ads. I believe that 90% of the comments were about the ads and only 10% about the action on the field.

I thought that it was a darn good game. It really did go down to the last second—the last play. How do you get any better than that?

I don’t write this stuff for Sports Illustrated. So how does any of this translate to radio and records? The NFL has become a great source for music on TV. Certainly the Blake Shelton appearance was part of selling The Voice which aired immediately following the game. I mean, immediately following the Super Bowl post game show brought to you by Toyota.

But Madonna, Kelly, and Faith were nice touches. Kelly may have been part of a Blake deal because of Narvel, not sure about that but I hope so. That would be very nice.

Faith, of course, is often the best part of the Sunday night games on NBC.

I hope that Roger Goodell is not too angry over M.I.A. trying to signal that she felt that the Giants were number one. The gesture is not illegal. Not even all that offensive anymore. I see that every day from fellow drivers. Maybe I should stop tailgating?

The use of the expletive was pretty obscured. I didn’t even hear it. And believe me I watch the halftime shows VERY CLOSELY. I started that around 2004.

Anyhow, smart programmers got into their music scheduling system Monday morning and went heavy on Miranda and Blake’s music. Maybe they even played “America The Beautiful” right from the TV broadcast.

Smart record company executives were ready with new Faith music Monday.

Smart bettors put their money on the Giants and the over on the Anthem.

The Lions are 18-1 to win the 2013 Superbowl.