Seven eyes a Super Bowl touchdown

Seven has so far reaped major benefits from its decision to dip its toe into American football.

Lady Gaga performs at the halftime. Picture: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP.

Broadcaster Seven West Media is looking to secure a much-needed win today as America’s most-watched annual TV broadcast — the Super Bowl — is aired to Australian audiences on Seven and digital channel 7mate.

It comes as the Super Bowl, the culmination of the NFL season which drawn over 100 million viewers in the US alone for each of the past seven years, continues to see rising Australian interest.

The lure of reaching such a staggering number of people is rich for advertisers, with 30-second slots drawing around $US5 million across the last two years.

Growth in TV ad rates has notably stalled over the past 12 months, however, with the flat reading this year the first such result since 2009, when the GFC put a clamp on advertisers’ willingness to spend.

Atlanta Falcons' Matt Ryan fumbles as he is hit by New England Patriots' Dont'a Hightower during the second half. Picture: AP/Eric Gay.

In this circumstance it is not the US economy that is at fault, but rather the game itself, which has been hit with a year-long ratings malaise that the sport’s organisers are battling to fully comprehend.

It’s a different story locally, though, with Seven reaping major benefits from its decision to dip its toe into the American football world in 2014.

The sport’s ratings in Australia have risen sharply since Seven West Media claimed the local rights from Channel Ten, broadcasting three games a week during the regular season as well as all playoff games through a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

Ratings were arguably aided the most by high-profile local athlete Jarryd Hayne joining the San Francisco 49ers in the 2015-16 season, with his story driving an upswell in local interest in America’s Game.

His stint may not have lasted long, just like his foray into Rugby Sevens, but Seven is still licking its lips as Super Bowl LI is played in Houston today.

The marathon four-hour event is made for TV — even if it at times tries the patience of viewers — given the regular breaks and broad appeal from a halftime show that regularly draws the world’s most popular musicians (in this year’s case, Lady Gaga).

In Seven’s first year of broadcasting the main event, ratings showed an average metropolitan audience of 354,000 viewers on its primary channel, up 144,000 on the prior year when broadcast by Ten’s One network.

Last year, the number rose once more, jumping 13.8 per cent to 403,000.

It means the audience doubled in just two years despite the awkward Monday morning timeslot.

It remains to be seen whether Seven will be cheering further growth this year but regardless, the five-year deal it reached two-and-a-half years ago would likely appear pretty cheap right now.

New England Patriots recover a fumble against the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth quarter. Picture: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images.