Super Bowl breaks US TV records
Super Bowl draws its biggest audience ever, and very nearly tops the moon landing audience.
- Published by David Knox
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The Super Bowl game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers has broken US TV records with
123.4 million viewers across several platforms.
That was the biggest Super Bowl audience ever, being 2023’s 115m.
112 million of those viewers tuned into the CBS broadcast.
The rest were measured across Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, CBS Sports and NFL digital properties including NFL+.
However, the total is still below the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, though that aired across television networks at once.
No doubt the attendance and media around Taylor Swift helped create even broader context for this year’s game.
In Australia the game Reached 2.55m viewers with a National Average of 800,000.
Seven West Media Chief Digital Officer, Gereurd Roberts, said: “The Super Bowl is yet another excellent example of 7plus’ power to bring mass cultural moments – from around the world – live and free to all Australians.
“This year’s massive numbers are a testament to both Australians’ appetite for digital sport content delivered where and how they want it, and the power of a market-leading user experience that takes them inside the heart-racing moments shaping the global sport and culture conversation.”
| 1 | Apollo 11 moon landing | 7/20/69 | Multiple | 125M-150M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Super Bowl LVIII (KC-SF) | 2/11/24 | CBS | 123.4M |
| 3 | Super Bowl LVII (KC-PHI) | 2/12/23 | Fox | 115.1M |
| 4 | Super Bowl XLIX (NE-SEA) | 2/1/15 | NBC | 114.4M |
| 5 | Super Bowl LVI (LAR-CIN) | 2/13/22 | NBC | 112.3M |
| 6 | Super Bowl XLVIII (SEA-DEN) | 2/2/14 | Fox | 112.2M |
| 7 | Super Bowl 50 (DEN-CAR) | 2/7/16 | CBS | 111.9M |
| 8 | Super Bowl XLVI (NYG-NE) | 2/5/12 | NBC | 111.3M |
| 9 | Super Bowl LI (NE-ATL) | 2/5/17 | Fox | 111.3M |
| 10 | Super Bowl XLV (GB-PIT) | 2/6/11 | Fox | 111.0M |
| 11 | Richard Nixon’s resignation speech | 8/8/74 | Multiple | 110.0M |
| 12 | Super Bowl XLVII (BAL-SF) | 2/3/13 | CBS | 108.7M |
| 13 | Super Bowl XLIV (NO-IND) | 2/7/10 | CBS | 106.5M |
| 14 | M*A*S*H series finale | 2/28/83 | CBS | 105.9M |
| 15 | Super Bowl LII (PHI-NE) | 2/4/18 | NBC | 103.4M |
| 16 | Super Bowl XXVII Halftime Show (Michael Jackson) | 1/31/93 | NBC | 102.0M |
| 17 | Super Bowl LIV (KC-SF) | 2/2/20 | Fox | 100.4M |
| 18 | The Day After | 11/20/83 | ABC | 100.0M |
| 19 | Roots (Part VIII) | 1/30/77 | ABC | 100.0M |
| 20 | Super Bowl XLIII (PIT-ARI) | 2/1/09 | NBC | 98.7M |
| 21 | Super Bowl LIII (NE-LAR) | 2/3/19 | CBS | 98.2M |
| 22 | Super Bowl XLII (NYG-NE) | 2/3/08 | Fox | 97.4M |
| 23 | O.J. Simpson police pursuit | 6/17/94 | Multiple | 95.0M |
| 24 | Super Bowl XXX (DAL-PIT) | 1/28/96 | NBC | 94.1M |
| 25 | Super Bowl XLI (IND-CHI) | 2/4/07 | CBS | 93.2M |
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12 Responses
I don’t understand why you’d watch because a celebrities boyfriend is playing but each to their own.
I’m old enough to say I watched the moon landing. Also Richard Nixon’s resignation and Roots, which was very big in Australia. Of those shows, only Roots was in colour in Oz!
Those figures are amazing David, thanks for the intel.
… maybe other sports and/or programs can book Taylor Swift to boost ratings? it could be a whole new sideline for her …
Taylor Swift to do the half time show next year?
She doesn’t need the gig
She doesn’t, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the NFL approached her to do it since her presence at the game inevtiably helped boost its ratings. Her presence also boosted the ratings of several regular season games in the US.
Agree. She might do it for the boyfriend 😉
If the American broadcast was shown on CBS (owned by Paramount), why wouldn’t the wider global company give first rights to broadcast to their affiliate/owed stations (i.e Network 10 & Paramount +), maybe there is a rights deal that I don’t understand. 10 need all of the big sports they can get not having rights to tennis, cricket, AFL & NRL.
Seven has rights through NFL.
Seven shows two games on Monday mornings, regardless of which US Network (Fox, NBC, etc) it airs on.
CBS only had rights for USA mainland and territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, etc). Under the four-network rotation starting in 2024, the league awarded NBC the Super Bowl during Winter Olympic years. The four-network rights deal includes yearly rotation of the Super Bowl between CBS, Fox, NBC, and ABC. Sky Sports and ITV still hold their rights to broadcast the NFL in the UK until 2025.
The NFL negotiates the broadcast rights for markets individually. It would make sense for Paramount to negatiate for multiple territories, but as stated above, 7 has current NFL rights for Australia. Besides that, the rights are in a round robin with the big 4 broadcasters. Next year it will be on Fox.