The iTunes Super Bowl

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Television is a woefully underutilized programming resource, and there’s no better illustration of that than the Super Bowl. Last night’s game on Fox drew the largest audience ever for a Super Bowl, appearing on nearly two-thirds of the TVs that were in use at the time, according to Nielsen. This demand suggests at least four opportunities for reusing the programming online, and yet two of them are being ignored.

The most obvious is a replay of the game itself. It was tense and compelling throughout, so you’d think that football lovers -- particularly Giants fans -- would be eager for a digital version they could watch again. No dice. So far, the only thing the NFL is offering is three different packages of highlights -- a short one that’s free at NFL.com, a 23-minute version for $1.99 at iTunes, and a 67-minute version for $1.99 that adds a bunch of post-game interview footage. I’m sure there’s a market for such things, but why not sell the game itself? By the way, a Fox Sports spokesman said the decision whether to replay the game online is the NFL’s call; Fox’s license allowed it to air the game once on TV, but the league held onto the Internet rights.

Before you argue that no one would want to see the game online, consider this stat from Nielsen Media Research that we published today in connection with a story about the CW network: 25% of adults, and 39% of 18-to-34 year olds, have watched a full-length TV program online in the last three months. Those percentages translate into a very large number of viewers.

Another marketable quantity is the halftime show. Tom Petty, although not Prince, was at least solid. His able guitarist Mike Campbell was the real star. But if you missed the brief concert, or if you’re a Tom Petty completist and want to add to your collection, you can’t buy it or watch it from an authorized source. Instead, you’ll have to turn to, umm, a source that’s not Fox or the NFL. Tom’s making money for somebody, just not himself, the network or the league.

But it’s not all bad news on the online Super Bowl front. The game’s commercials -- which some people argue are the best part of the telecast -- can be found at MySpace and NFL.com, among numerous other sites. (National ads only; if you want to see the seemingly endless commercials for or against Propositions 94-97, you’ll have to turn on your TV set tonight.) And Jordin Sparks’ rendition of the Star Spangled Banner can be had for 99 cents at iTunes. But those wouldn’t be my first two choices for squeezing more revenue out of the second-most-watched TV show in American history.