Conceived the first NFL Halftime Show in a contemporary musical performance format, signing Michael Jackson.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Super Bowl viewership was in decline, featuring a halftime hodgepodge of college marching bands, drill teams, and other performance ensembles. Other networks successfully broadcast counter-programming against that timeslot. The strategy: Increase viewership and attract an expanded, desirable audience demographic by signing a superstar.
To revitalize the NFL brand and begin attracting greater female viewership at a time when 90 percent of the audience was male and total viewership was in decline.
Attracted more than 1 billion viewers worldwide for the first Super Bowl broadcast during which audience figures dramatically increased during the halftime show. After Michael Jackson’s performance, Fox never again broadcast counter-programming against the Super Bowl.