audience

Defense wins championships and Super Bowl LX showed it can get ratings too.

NBC’s Sunday telecast of the Seattle Seahawks’ 29-13 win over the New England Patriots averaged 124.9 million viewers according to Nielsen data, falling short of the record of 127.7 million set last year on Fox.

Seattle’s smothering defense preventing New England from ever getting on track in the game at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., was more appreciated by serious football fans than casual watchers. But the controversy surrounding the event with halftime performer Bad Bunny likely stoked additional interest.

Bad Bunny’s halftime show averaged 128.2 million viewers, higher than the game overall. The performance aired after the second quarter, when the game was still close and hit a peak of 137.8 million viewers.

The NFL’s selection of Bad Bunny riled up right-wing commentators who objected to having an artist singing only in Spanish performing at the premier U.S. sporting event of the year. Bad Bunny has also been outspoken over the Trump administration’s aggressive tactics in removing undocumented immigrants. He skipped the mainland U.S. on his last tour, citing fears that his fans would be targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Right-wing activist group Turning Point USA presented an alternative halftime show on YouTube, which topped 6 million viewers, a surprisingly high number considering details of the program were not revealed until days before game day. A concert featuring Kid Rock and several lesser-known country artists did not get a strong critical reception on social media.

But the audience size showed that a hot musical act could attract a significant chunk of the audience already gathered to watch the game.

“More bands should go head to head with the halftime show and not in a political way,” said one rival network executive not authorized to comment publicly. “It would be a good stunt for HBO Max or some other company that’s not an NFL rights holder.”

Nielsen’s improvement to its measurement of viewing through internet connections and set-top boxes — which boosted NFL TV ratings throughout the season, also likely helped the Super Bowl LX number. The additional data was incorporated into TV ratings starting in September.

Another 3.3 million watched the Spanish-language broadcast on Telemundo. NBC did not release data for viewing on its Peacock, saying only that it was the biggest day ever for the streaming platform.

NBC sold out the commercial time for the game at an average price of $8 million for a 30-second spot, with some going for $10 million. USA Today’s annual “Ad Meter” panel chose Budweiser’s “American Icons” as its favorite commercial on the telecast.

MILAN — Mike Tirico was baptized on the day of Super Bowl I.

Sunday, the NBC play-by-play announcer will be baptized by fire.

Not only will Tirico call the Super Bowl for the first time, but he will stay on the Levi’s Stadium field after the game to remotely host Sunday night’s coverage of the Winter Olympics.

From football’s mountaintop to the majestic peaks of Northern Italy, it’s an unprecedented double play in the broadcasting business.

“We’ll keep the Super Bowl celebration threaded into the Olympic show — confetti, family moments, that sort of thing,” said Tirico, 59, who worked both events four years ago but didn’t call that Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium, instead hosting the pregame show.

“What I learned from Super Bowl LVI is that it’s possible to do this without cheating either job.”

Maybe so, but it requires the extraordinary organization and preparation for which Tirico is famous within the network. Each year, he distributes to colleagues a color-coded calendar — a different color for every sport he’s covering that day — and the patchwork on every page looks like the Partridge family bus.

“Mike is the world’s best multitasker,” said Rob Hyland, coordinating producer of “Sunday Night Football.”

“This is in his DNA. It’s how he’s wired.”

Even for Tirico, however, the task is ambitious. The day after calling the Rams’ divisional playoff game at Chicago, he boarded a flight for Italy to check out the NBC studios in Milan. It was all part of getting comfortable with the setup.

On Super Bowl Sunday, hours before the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots take the field, Tirico will be up at 4:30 on the West Coast to watch Lindsey Vonn in the women’s downhill. He then will try to get back to sleep to prepare for his long day of football, knowing he will be running on adrenaline deep into the night. At halftime, he’ll carve out a few minutes to get up to speed on what’s happening in Italy.

On Monday, he and others from NBC will fly to Milan, with Tirico beginning his in-studio Olympics coverage Tuesday.

Tirico is just the 13th play-by-play announcer to call a national Super Bowl broadcast. He said Sunday will be like being back at Syracuse and taking three final exams in one day. He figures he will graze his way through the day but doesn’t plan to sit down for a meal, per se.

“They always say you should be slightly hungry when you take a test,” he said. “I subscribe to that theory on game day.”

Whereas preparation for the Super Bowl begins the moment the participating teams are determined, Tirico said his work on the Olympics has been years in the making.

“You want to be prepared but not over-prepared,” he said, referring to both events. “You want to know the important things you can get to during the game.”

The key is to use the information judiciously without overloading the audience with facts and statistics.

“With all that detail and information as granular as he can get, he never loses sight of what’s important for a mass audience,” Hyland said. “Mike is a unicorn. He’s one of one.”

As for Hyland, he’s one and done. After the Super Bowl, he will head home to Connecticut and become part of said audience.

“I’ll be playing the role of dad back on my couch in Southport with our six-month-old baby boy,” he said. “I’ll be watching the Olympics as a fan.”

In a sense, Tirico is a fan, too. There’s still a kernel of disbelief that this is his job.

“This is the thing that happens after you stop dreaming,” he said. “Because your dreams never let you get this far.”

Eclectic and cozy define the spirit of this North Hollywood coffee shop owned by Jennifer Jackson and Libby Ward. The name (and whale logo) is a playful twist on corporate giant Starbucks (with “Starbuck” being a character in “Moby Dick”), and the satire extends to the names of the drink sizes: guppy (small), trout (medium) and whaley (large).

Inside, the whimsical nautical vibe continues in the front room with a floor mural, resembling the deep blue sea and various colorful sea creatures, done by local illustrator Tak Sparks.

Three back rooms with bold colored walls — green, blue, yellow and orange — feel like living rooms with wooden stools, desks, chairs and tables, area rugs, upholstered armchairs and worn leather seats. Out back, a shaded patio strung with Edison bulbs extends the seating.

The walls recently featured art by local comic artist/illustrator Josh Maikis, as well as art by two of the shop’s employees’ parents, J.H. Smith’s ink and intaglio prints and Carolyn Root’s wildlife paintings.

In the front space, bags of free coffee grounds are available for customers to take home for composting. There’s also a propagation station where you can leave or take plant clippings.

Beyond seasonal drinks and espresso-based drinks, try unusual signature offerings like the Shiny Squirrel, a blended espresso with caramel, whipped cream, white and dark chocolate, and sprinkles on top. Or, if coffee isn’t your thing, there are smoothies, hot chocolate and Italian sodas, and a wide array of teas. Jackson is also an herbalist and makes some of them, including Good Night Moon and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, with her own herbs.

Here, the coffee doesn’t stop at the beverages. Even a caprese sandwich has coffee in the balsamic vinegar.