To an on-field rematch to a pop superstar in the celebrity box, this year’s Super Bowl had plenty to talk about regardless of whether it was on a sports-talk station or a CHR morning show. And talk they did. A new Katz Media survey finds that seven in ten (72%) listeners report hearing on-air conversations about the big game during their daily radio listening in the two days after the Kansas City Chiefs left the field victorious.
Not unexpectedly the formats that guys listen to were probably doing more Super Bowl chatter. More than three in four (77%) of men said they heard talk of the game on the radio. But the NFL has seen record gains in female interest this season, thanks in part to the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce sidelines romance. And the survey shows two-thirds (67%) of women also report they heard talk about the Super Bowl in the two days following the game.
“These live conversations on AM/FM radio, involving trusted on-air personalities, echo the same ones people are having across America – and when that dialogue is about big events involving big advertiser investments, marketers are also winners,” says Katz. It is one reason why the rep firm calculates for the price of a single spot during the CBS-TV telecast, they could have reached 214 million radio listeners for weeks or months with the same reported $6.47 million for a :30-second TV spot.
Helping make the case for why adding some radio to the media plan is a good play for advertisers looking to expand their reach beyond the living room, the Katz survey of more than 500 radio listeners shows that a lot of the conversations people say they heard about the Super Bowl came while they were in the car. Two-thirds say they heard discussions while driving in the car, by far the most common location for both men and women. Super Bowl engagement also continued while listeners were at work, for 13% of men and 7% of women. And even though at-home listening is not as prevalent, the survey shows four in ten listeners reported hearing Super Bowl discussions on the radio from the comfort of their homes and home offices – with men (43%) more likely than women (36%) to have heard game-related talk while home.
The Katz Media study also reveals just how tuned-in to hot topics radio is, regardless of format. The Super Bowl may be a sporting event at its core, but the biggest number of listeners heard talk about the game on music stations. One in three said they heard those conversations on a music station, compared to 28% that heard it on an all-news station or 26% that heard it on a sports-talk station.
“Radio has its finger on the pulse of big pop culture events and is a natural home to discussions among its trusted and beloved on-air personalities across formats,” Katz says. “The Super Bowl truly is an event for the masses, mixing sports, music, and pop culture, providing relevant and appealing content to any age and interest.”
The data shows some gender differences. Women were more likely to have heard Super Bowl talk on a music station – 38% said they heard that chatter, which is an eight-point advantage over men. At the same time, the survey shows men were far more likely to have heard radio talking about the game on news and sports stations. Katz says 37% of men said they heard Super Bowl post-game conversations on sports talk stations versus 14% of women. There was a similar 31% to 24% gender gap for all-news stations.
“Whether you're a diehard football fan, or more of a casual watcher, there's no denying the Taylor-mania surrounding this year's Super Bowl. Taylor Swift's name popped up most frequently among the Super Bowl topics listeners remembered hearing about on the radio – even ahead of MVP Patrick Mahomes,” says the Katz analysis. “That's not due to any shortcomings of the game itself, but rather a reflection of what is most buzzworthy this year. Even among men, game conversations were neck and neck with Taylor Swift,” it says.
There was more than just Taylor Swift and the actual game to talk about though. CBS says more than 123 million people tuned into the game. That created a massive, shared viewing experience for some of the best commercial creative released each year.
Katz says four in ten listeners reported hearing radio discussions about Super Bowl ads, a number consistently strong across men and women. “Radio helps advertisers earn sustainable brand conversations – more mentions and more exposure – and reach audiences that might have missed their initial ad airing during the Super Bowl,” it says.
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