Why CBS Isn’t Doing A Nickelodeon Telecast For The Super Bowl

CBS conducted a fun experiment earlier in the year. The network had an alternate broadcast of the playoff game between the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears on Nickelodeon, geared towards a young audience. There won’t be the same broadcast done for Sunday’s Super Bowl, though.

The broadcast was a solid hit for ViacomCBS. The broadcast, which featured a healthy dose of slime graphics and Spongebob Squarepants, was watched by over 2 million viewers on Nickelodeon.

According to Richard Deitsch, the broadcast exceeded the NFL’s expectations. Given how buttoned up the league can tend to be, having a Nick broadcast at all during the playoffs was a surprising swing. It sounds like it paid off, and is something that the league and network will continue in the future.

There was word that the network might try again for Sunday’s Super Bowl LV between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ultimately, they turned down that opportunity. According to Neil Best of NewsDay, CBS is opting to maximize viewership on the network.

Ultimately, this isn’t too surprising. Broadcasting a Super Bowl between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes is a huge opportunity, and it makes sense for CBS to devote all of its resources to nailing the main broadcast.

Expect to see more interesting angles for NFL broadcasts in the future, though. The Nickelodeon game was a hit, and the NFL needs to grow a younger audience that hasn’t always been drawn to football in recent years. There have also been suggestions that the league could explore other alternative broadcasts, after the success of the Nick game, to reach non-traditional football audiences.

For now, it looks like those plans will wait until the 2021 season.

[Neil Best]

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