It will be a chilly Super Bowl this year in New Jersey, but luckily that won’t keep people from watching the game on TV with family and friends. In fact, over half of people 13 and older are VERY likely to watch the matchup between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks. A total of 73% of people are likely to watch the football game on Sunday:

When compared to last year, people are 9% more likely to watch the Super Bowl this year. People may prefer to watch the Broncos and Seahawks rather than the Ravens and 49ers, or maybe it’s due to the halftime show with performances by Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Of the people who have an opinion, it‘s about a 50/50 split between people who think Bruno Mars is a good choice to perform at the halftime show. Overall people are more interested in watching Bruno Mars perform than the Red Hot Chili Peppers. 49% of people are more interested in seeing Bruno Mars perform, 36% of people are more interested in seeing Red Hot Chili Peppers, and 15% of people are equally interested in both.

When we looked at Super Bowl watching intent more closely, we found a few interesting differences about Super Bowl watchers and the general population:

  • Super Bowl watchers are 46% more likely to watch Sportscenter/ESPN more than 4 times a week.
  • They are 56% more likely to say their favorite genre of TV is sports.
  • Watchers are 20% more likely to turn to friends/word of mouth when looking for restaurant reviews.
  • They are 21% more likely to have 4 or more bedrooms in their current house/apartment.
  • They are 13% more likely to be male than female.
  • They are 14% more likely to have Verizon wireless as their current wireless carrier.
  • Super Bowl watchers are 21% more likely to be optimistic that they will get a promotion or other career advancement in the next year.
  • They are 26% more likely to like Star Wars movies vs. Star Trek.
  • They are 30% more likely to say they have played fantasy sports.
  • People in the West are 12% more likely to say they are very likely to watch the game than those in the Midwest.

Of the people watching the Super Bowl, the majority, 73%, will watch the game at home. 20% will watch the game at a friend or family member’s house, 4% will go to a restaurant/bar, and 3% will be at the game.

Now moving on to who people are rooting for and which team they think will win:

People are overwhelmingly more likely to root for the Broncos. Of the people who have an opinion, 71% will root for the Broncos, while 29% are hoping the Seahawks win. As you can see from the map, Seahawk fans are more likely to be in the West, but there are also fans groups in the Northeast.

As far as who people think will win, even more think the Broncos will win the Lombardi trophy:

73% of people think the Broncos will win, while only 27% of people think the Seahawks will win.

If the Broncos don’t bring home a win on Sunday you may see many disappointed people showing up to work on Monday. Let’s see if the predictions are correct.