Super Bowl LVIII earns broadcaster extra £47m after rare slice of fortune

17 February 2024 , 03:00

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Overtime at Super Bowl LVIII earned CBS an extra $60m (Image: Getty)

CBS, the broadcaster of Super Bowl LVIII, scored a massive £47.5 million bonus thanks to the game going into overtime.

The match between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers was tied at 19-19, which meant extra time and more adverts. CBS had already paid £1.58 billion for the rights to air NFL games this season, including the Super Bowl.

The ad-packed broadcast of the final game cost advertisers an average of £5.5 million to reach the 123.7 million TV viewers. Before the game went into overtime, CBS was set to earn around £500m from the ads. But when the game went into overtime, they managed to fit in an extra 10 adverts before the Chiefs won the game 25-22.

This brought in an estimated extra $60m (£47.5million) for CBS. They'll have to wait until 2028 for their next chance to host the Super Bowl, with Fox, NBC Peacock, and ABC/ESPN also in the rotation. But this year, CBS certainly got lucky with the rare overtime game.

Despite a fantastic Super Bowl show, the company that owns CBS is saying goodbye to 800 workers. Paramount Global is cutting down its staff by about 3%, as reported by The Guardian.

Joe Burrow backs Patrick Mahomes after Kansas City Chiefs reach Super Bowl

Bob Bakish, the big boss of Paramount Global, wrote a note to his team that The Guardian got to see. He said, "To those with whom we are parting ways, we are incredibly grateful for your hard work and dedication," according to what he wrote. "Your talents have helped us advance our mission of unleashing the power of content around the world. We are a better company because of you."

He also mentioned, "While I realize these changes are in no way easy ... I am confident this is the right decision for our future. These adjustments will help enable us to build on our momentum and execute our strategic vision for the year ahead and I firmly believe we have much to be excited about."

The Chiefs won the Super Bowl 25-22 against the 49ers (Getty)

The Daily Mirror Sport US has asked Paramount Global for comment on the memo. Kansas City won the Super Bowl again, claiming their fourth Lombardi Trophy and third with Andy Reid as coach and Patrick Mahomes playing quarterback.

But the party mood in Kansas City was spoiled when 23 people were shot at the Super Bowl parade after a dispute. Sadly, one person died.

Beloved radio DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan was tragically killed in the incident, which saw victims aged between eight and 47 years old. Shockingly, at least half of those shot were under the age of 16. Two young people have been arrested by the police in relation to this horrifying scenes.

Joshua Mbu