Story highlights
Puppy Bowl 2014 features 66 puppies traipsing the gridiron
This year's Puppy Bowl kitten halftime features keyboard cat
Last year's Puppy Bowl drew 2.6 million viewers
For the past decade, millions of Americans have passed on the biggest football game of the year to watch something way cuter – “Puppy Bowl.” By now it’s an established fact: Television doesn’t get much more adorable than puppies.
“Puppy Bowl,” Animal Planet’s alternative programming to the NFL’s Super Bowl, is the sublime result of pairing a bunch of wiggly puppies – 66, in fact – with squeaky toys and a mini-stadium set. Add a “rufferee” and a kitty-filled halftime, and every floppy tackle or slobbered-on football inspires an unintelligible burst of baby talk and giggles. That’s the power of puppies!
Ahead of this year’s most big game, we take a look at Puppy Bowl 2014, by the numbers.
10 – Number of Puppy Bowls on Animal Planet, including this year. “Puppy Bowl X” premieres at 3 p.m. ET and PT February 2.
2 hours -- Official length of each year’s “Puppy Bowl.”
6 – Times it’s replayed on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s not really a 12-hour show!
12.4 million -- Total number of Puppy Bowl IX viewers in 2013.
2.6 million -- Average number of viewers during “Puppy Bowl IX” in 2013.
1.1 million -- Average number of viewers during the blackout of Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
5.58 million – Viewers who watched “Puppy Bowl I” on February 6, 2005.
36 – Puppies in Puppy Bowl X’s starting lineup.
12-18 weeks -- Age range of the puppies in the starting lineup.
37 – Adoption agencies and shelters that provided the puppy players.
12-15 – Number of puppies on the “field” at a time. This is one of several good Puppy Bowl statistics we found from Ad Age.com.
19 x 10 feet – Area of the Geico Puppy Bowl stadium.
30 -- Percent increase in ad revenue so far this year over last year’s Puppy Bowl.
3 -- Guinea pigs watching from the “blimp.”
30 -- Kittens performing a “domino topple” during the halftime show.
More than 34 million -- Views on YouTube of the “Original Keyboard Cat” that was first posted in 2007. A new version will be performing during Puppy Bowl X.
Almost 26,000 -- Meep the Bird’s Twitter followers. As the social media correspondent for the Puppy Bowl, Meep will send out tweets during the game. Get it?!!
Almost 300,000 – Tweets mentioning the Puppy Bowl IX Twitter users sent during its two-hour premiere in 2013.
49 -- Animal Planet crew members on the job during this year’s bowl.
103 -- Total number of hours of footage shot for Puppy Bowl X.
1995 – The year Dan FitzSimons created “The Puppy Channel,” 24 hours of puppies. It has since moved online, at ThePuppyChannel.com.
Be honest: Will you be watching the Super Bowl…or Puppy Bowl? Share your preference in the comments, on Twitter @CNNLiving or on CNN Living’s Facebook page!