The Super Bowl may have developed immunity against a terrible game.
Early Nielsen data and a projection from Fox and the NFL showed 126 million viewers watched Sunday‘s telecast of the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 drubbing of the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.
If the total holds up when final official numbers are issued Tuesday, the game would be up slightly from last year’s record of 123.7 million viewers who watched the Chiefs’ 25-22 win over the San Francisco 49ers on CBS.
Fox said an average of 13.6 million viewers watched the game on Tubi, the company’s free ad-supported streaming platform, which carried the event for the first time. Another 900,000 watched on the NFL’s streaming app.
Last year, Nielsen recorded the TV audience on CBS as 120 million viewers. That figure would be well above the 111 million viewers who watched Sunday’s game on TV networks Fox, Telemundo and Fox Deportes, based on early data.
The Super Bowl was streamed on Paramount+ and the NFL streaming app in 2024, both of which require a subscription.
The availability of a free, widely distributed streaming platform to carry the Eagles-Chiefs telecast likely brought in more casual fans. Tubi had around 97 million active users in January.
The Super Bowl has regularly topped 100 million viewers since 2009 and fluctuated based on the competitiveness of the game.
Based on early data, 135 million viewers watched the second quarter, between 8 and 8:15 p.m. Eastern time. The Eagles led 24-0 at halftime, which likely led to some viewers tuning out in the second half.
The game had the ingredients of another ratings record-setter, with Taylor Swift to cheer on boyfriend Travis Kelce, the Chiefs’ star tight end. President Trump heightened the anticipation by being the first sitting commander-in-chief to attend a Super Bowl.
The lopsided outcome of Sunday’s contest was reminiscent of the run of terrible Super Bowl matchups of the mid-1980s, when there were five consecutive blowouts decided by 19 points or more.
Fox scored a record price of $8 million for some of the commercials on the game. Viewers surveyed in USA Today’s annual Super Bowl Ad Meter chose a Budweiser commercial featuring the beer brand’s iconic Clydesdale horses as their favorite.
The halftime show featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar was polarizing on social media, but provided the liveliest conversation of the night amid the Chiefs’ dismal performance on the field.
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