As Fox is hoping to get a record viewership for Super Bowl LIX, it’s also hoping that its formidable game show, The Floor, hosted by Rob Lowe, will get new fans with viewers staying on the network post-Super Bowl.
Originally, Fox had announced that Rescue: Hi-Surf, which debuted back in the fall, would be airing after Super Bowl LIX, but the network pivoted in November and named The Floor to take over the post-Super Bowl slot sometime in the 10 p.m. ET hour.
Back in 2018, I looked at the post-Super Bowl viewership up to that time. NBC tapped This is Us to air after Super Bowl LII that year. No show has ever topped the post-Super Bowl XXX viewership of Friends, which had a record 52.9 million viewers. Of course, that was in a different era, and there was no streaming. No show has come close since.
This is a very different television atmosphere with a crop of shows that have premiered since 2018. The share of viewership for network and cable television is much lower than it was just a mere seven years ago. And it’s also meant lower viewers for the post-Super Bowl shows. However, that doesn’t stop the NFL’s media partners from using the Super Bowl as a massive lead-in. Let’s take a look at the post-Super Bowl shows since LII in 2018.
Super Bowl LII — This Is Us
NBC used ratings juggernaut and tear-jerker This Is Us to run out of the Super Bowl. This was after the Philadelphia Eagles beat the New England Patriots in a 41-33 thriller. NBC averaged 103.47 million viewers on the network alone while. That gave the show, which starred Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Chrissy Metz, and Sterling K. Brown, a very good audience of 26.98 million. The show officially hit the air at 10:45 p.m. ET, and the episode aptly titled “Super Bowl Sunday” flashed back at a fire that occurred on Super Bowl Sunday 1998 and how it affected the Pearson family.
At 26.98 million, this is the most viewed episode of the series plus the biggest audience for a scripted entertainment program since Fox aired an episode of House, which also aired after a Super Bowl, this time in 2008. That episode averaged 29.045 million viewers.
Super Bowl LIII — The World’s Best
Do you remember The World’s Best? You’re forgiven if you don’t. This was hosted by James Corden who at the time seemed to be on every CBS show. This was a talent competition show involving three American judges, RuPaul, Faith Hill, and Drew Barrymore, along with a “Wall of the World,” comprising 50 international “entertainment experts.”
The show premiered right after Super Bowl LIII and it was by 22.21 million viewers, however, that wasn’t enough for the show to carry momentum to a second season. The World’s Best lasted only six episodes, and no one really cared to wage a campaign to save it. The fact the show’s YouTube channel has no content pretty much sums up the sad history of this show.
Anyway, CBS had a lot of promos for the show, but it died a slow death.
Super Bowl LIV — The Masked Singer
Fox aired the season three premiere of its very popular celebrity singing competition, The Masked Singer, following Kansas City’s first Super Bowl win. With Fox making a safe choice, it’s no wonder that the episode saw an excellent viewership of 27.33 million. In fact, it’s the highest viewership for the post-Super Bowl timeslot dating back to 2012.
Here’s the cold open for the post-Super Bowl episode.
Super Bowl LV — The Equalizer
Going with a new show featuring Queen Latifah in a reboot of the original CBS series, the pilot episode premiere following Tom Brady’s last Super Bowl win in Tampa came on the air at 10:39 p.m. ET. The show just managed to average 20.4 million, which is pretty good for this day and age.
Super Bowl LVI — 2022 Winter Olympics
For the first time ever, a network followed up the Super Bowl with another global sporting event. NBC had Mike Tirico pull double duty on February 13, 2022, he hosted the Big Game and then after awarding the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the Los Angeles Rams, he hosted the Winter Olympics. This is NBC’s strategy. This will happen again next year for the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
In 2022, NBC aired live coverage from China, which featured bobsleigh and ice dancing. This averaged 24 million viewers and was the highest audience for post-Super Bowl programming since the aforementioned The Masked Singer premiere on Fox two years earlier. This would be the last program to reach over the 20-million mark.
Super Bowl LVII — Next Level Chef
Fox had an exciting Super Bowl, with Kansas City beating Philadelphia by a field goal. And it had a record 115.1 million viewers for the game. This also meant that the network would go to Gordon Ramsey. This was the second season premiere of the cooking competition show. This hit the air at 10:37 p.m. ET. However, unlike the other episodes mentioned here, this did not resonate.
We have the episode above for you. It averaged 15.66 million viewers and was, therefore, the most-watched installment of the season.
Super Bowl LVIII — Tracker
Last year’s Super Bowl LVIII on CBS garnered an average of 123.4 million viewers. That set an all-time high for American television. And that was a great lead-in for Tracker. However, with the game between Kansas City and San Francisco going to overtime, the program didn’t air until 11:14 p.m. ET. Because it didn’t air on time, viewership again did not reach 20 million viewers.
This series focuses on Colter Shaw, who searches for or “tracks” missing people. Tracker has also become a running joke on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Overall, this episode did get a very respectable 18.44 million viewers.
So, with Fox airing the Super Bowl two times in the last three years, it’s hoping that The Floor will reach a new ratings ceiling or at least shatter it.
