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Super Bowl TV ratings: Chiefs’ win produces most-watched telecast in history
By Keith Farner
Published:
Super Bowl TV ratings are often the biggest of the year for any program, but Sunday was in a class by itself.
There were 123.4 million average viewers across all platforms, including CBS, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, and CBS Sports, Univision and NFL digital properties, including NFL+. That audience is up 7% from last year’s Super Bowl which was the previous record, 115.1 million. The Chiefs win was only the second Super Bowl to go to overtime. The previous came in 2017, when New England rallied from a 28-3 deficit to beat Atlanta 34-28.
What’s more, 202.4 million viewers watched all or part of Super Bowl LVIII across networks, the highest unduplicated total audience in history and up 10% from last year’s Super Bowl, 184 million.
CBS Sports’ presentation of Super Bowl LVIII is the most-watched telecast in history with a total audience delivery of 123.4 million average viewers across platforms.
Link to Release: https://t.co/DHc9XPBwSn pic.twitter.com/GR3w2hbBwn
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) February 13, 2024
The network’s previous mark for its most-watched Super Bowl was 112.34 million for the 2016 game between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, according to the Associated Press.
Some of the increase can be attributed to a change in the way viewers are counted. Nielsen began including out-of-home viewers in its ratings in 2020, but only from limited markets. That measurement expanded to all 50 states beginning this year.
CBS has aired 3 of the top 10 most-watched Super Bowls. The others were the Super Bowl 50 for the 2015 season (Denver Broncos vs. Carolina Panthers) and Super Bowl XLVII after the 2012 season (Baltimore Ravens vs. San Francisco 49ers).
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
