Super Bowl XLVI goes mobile

Jennifer Collins Dec 21, 2011

Kai Ryssdal: Super Bowl 46 is still six weeks away. It’s way too early to tell who’s going to be on the field. But the field, as it were, will be just about everywhere.

Next month, for the first time, the Super Bowl’s going to be streamed live online and to mobile phones. That’s thanks to a new deal between NBC, the NFL and Verizon that could alter the playing field for all of them.

Here’s Marketplace’s Jennifer Collins.


Jennifer Collins: Here’s what fashionable people will be wearing to Super Bowl parties this season: headphones, laptops, smartphones, iPads, and anything with an Internet connection.

Super Bowl recap: And he finds him in the endzone, touchdown!

NBC says the game will be streamed on Verizon smartphones whose users download a $10 app and on NBCsports.com.

Seraj Bharwani is with media research firm Visible Measures.

Seraj Bharwani: It allows users now a level of flexibility and mobility for those who are truly the fans of the Super Bowl and want to watch it regardless of where they are.

The Super Bowl is already the biggest TV event of the year. But as many as 750,000 people could watch the game online — a lot of them will be watching it on TV at the same time. David Hallerman is with eMarketer.

David Hallerman: TV and digital combine better than anything.

Hallerman expects NBC to bring in an additional $4 million in ad revenue. That’s just a fraction of the 200 million the TV ads bring in. But this is just the first step. NBC also has the rights to the 2012 Olympics. Alan Osetek, president of marketing agency Resolution Media, says that’s next.

Alan Osetek: Especially because the events are spread out throughout the day, It’s a no brainer for the Olympics to want to do something similar.

And so you can expect the smartphone to be the must-have accessory for sports fans going forward.

I’m Jennifer Collins for Marketplace.

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