EGN NEWS DESK
Sunday evening’s extra time Super Bowl shattered rankings information.
An viewers of 123.4 million watched the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers, in accordance with preliminary figures from Nielsen and CBS, which broadcast the sport. That determine simply eclipsed final yr’s report excessive of 115.1 million, when Kansas City defeated the Philadelphia Eagles. Final Nielsen rankings for the Super Bowl might be issued on Tuesday.
The determine is the overall who watched on CBS, the Paramount+ streaming app, the Spanish-language channel Univision, N.F.L. digital channels or Nickelodeon, which aired a child-friendly telecast. The overwhelming majority watched the sport on CBS, which recorded 120 million viewers, in accordance with Nielsen.
The recreation had loads going for it. It went into extra time, concluded with a game-winning landing move (for a 25-22 remaining rating) and featured an elite Kansas City staff with a celebrity quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. Travis Kelce, Kansas City’s beginning tight finish, additionally occurs to be courting a megastar in Taylor Swift, who attended the sport in Las Vegas.
At a second when conventional tv rankings have been in free fall, the N.F.L., notably the Super Bowl, has stood resistant to large viewership adjustments affecting the remainder of the media world. Thirteen of the final 15 Super Bowls have drawn greater than 100 million viewers, in accordance with Nielsen, an even bigger viewers than in earlier a long time.
Sunday’s efficiency additionally capped off a giant yr for N.F.L. rankings.
Viewership was up 7 p.c, in accordance with Nielsen, falling simply shy of the report set in 2015. Several playoff video games set rankings information, together with the A.F.C. championship recreation on CBS, which scored greater than 55 million viewers, and an A.F.C. divisional playoff recreation that drew greater than 50 million. The N.F.C. championship recreation was slightly in need of a report.
League officers have pointed to quite a few shut video games this season — together with a playoff hunt that also included a number of groups towards the tip — as massive causes that rankings jumped. (It’s much less clear how a lot Ms. Swift helped enhance viewership.)
Other stay occasions, like some award reveals, have additionally had good returns just lately. Last week, the Grammy Awards, additionally on CBS, drew roughly 17 million viewers, a 34 p.c bounce from final yr’s ceremony. Ratings for the Oscars have elevated in back-to-back years.
The success of N.F.L. telecasts stands in sharp distinction to the remainder of conventional tv, which has had nose-diving viewership for a number of years as increasingly viewers migrate to on-demand streaming leisure. Viewership among the many main broadcast networks has declined 12 p.c for the reason that present tv season started in September.
Last yr’s Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes largely starved the printed networks of latest episodes of scripted tv collection for the final 5 months, and CBS has been notably damage. The community’s prime-time viewers has declined 30 p.c for the reason that tv season started, in accordance with Nielsen.
Help could also be on the way in which, although. CBS is rolling out new episodes of scripted reveals this week, and promotional movies for the approaching lineup circulated all through the Super Bowl telecast. The extra time recreation additionally meant extra industrial breaks, which netted CBS roughly an additional $35 million, Adweek reported. CBS had offered a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars}’ value of business time for the sport.
