Sunday night’s Super Bowl LVIII between the Chiefs and 49ers has set multiple viewership records across platforms. The broadcast averaged 123.4 million viewers, cementing its place as the most-viewed program in the history of American television.
The over 5-hour game aired on CBS, Nickelodeon and Univision, all while steaming on Paramount+. It culminated in Kansas City’s 25-22 dramatic overtime victory, only the second ever Super Bowl to reach OT.
According to Nielsen, a record 202.4 million watched at least some of the game across networks, up 10% from last year’s 183.6 million.
The CBS TV broadcast itself averaged 120 million viewers, breaking the network’s previous Super Bowl mark of 112.34 million in 2016.
This year, Nielsen began counting out-of-home viewers in all 50 states. Before that, it had counted these viewers only in limit markets. In other words, the increased viewership can be partially explained by measurement expansions.
However, new fans were drawn by excitement over elements like Travis Kelce’s romance with megastar Taylor Swift.
Univision set a Spanish-language Super Bowl record with over 2.2 million viewers. Overall NFL postseason numbers averaged 38.5 million over three weekends, a 9% jump from last year.
This year’s Super Bowl also became the second one in a row to average more than 100 million viewers, following a five-year dip below the 100 million mark.
“I can’t imagine a Super Bowl any better or more exciting than this,” CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus raved, as the game went into overtime. “I was managing my expectations, but I had a bit of hope that it would happen.”
By reaching overtime and climaxing on a final touchdown, the Chiefs created an instant classic. If viewership is any indication, then the game ultimately lived up to the sky-high expectations.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.