The National Football League (NFL) has revealed that the Super Bowl LVI averaged an audience of 112.3 million viewers, and is the most-watched show in five years.
Sunday’s clash between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams hit the 100-million viewer mark in a turnaround from viewership of last year’s big game, which the organisation stated marked a ‘strong finish to an NFL postseason rife’.
According to a release by NBC Sports, the Rams’ 23-20 win brought an average audience of 112.3 million, including 101.1 million TV viewers and another 11.2 million streamers.
“The Super Bowl once again delivered a massive audience, which included NBC and the unmatched power of broadcast television as well as first-ever presentations on Peacock and Telemundo, and led into our most-watched Olympics coverage in four years,” commented Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming.
Available on NBC, Telemundo, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, NFL Digital and Yahoo Sports mobile properties, reports suggested that the tournament ranked as the most-watched program in five years since Super Bowl LI in 2017. This game saw the New England Patriots’ make a comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons, drawing in 113.7 million viewers.
Furthermore, the viewership for the aforementioned Rams-Bengals game was revealed as having around a 10% increase from the audience that watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the Kansas City Chiefs in last year’s Super Bowl.
“We’re gratified that our strategy of combining the two most powerful events in the world – the Super Bowl and the Olympics – on ‘Super Gold Sunday’ has paid off in such a big way,” added NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua. “We look forward to continuing this strategy into the future.”
At half time, during the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show, viewing figures remained high with an average 103.4 million viewers whilst Telemundo’s first-ever Spanish-language Super Bowl broadcast averaged 1.9 million.
The show featured performances by rappers Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and singer Mary J.
Cincinnati topped local-market viewership with a 46.1/84 rating, while the Los Angeles ratings were in the national top 10 at 36.7/77, though other local markets in this category included Detroit, Pittsburgh, Columbus (Ohio), Kansas City, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia and Jacksonville.
