Because of an thrilling recreation that went into extra time, curler king Usher and the facility of Taylor Swift — the 2024 Tremendous Bowl set a rankings document.
The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers averaged 123.7 million viewers throughout all CBS platforms, in response to Nielsen, making it the most-watched Tremendous Bowl of all time. It’s additionally now the most-watched program in TV historical past.
Additionally, the CBS broadcast had 120.3 million viewers, the most important viewers in historical past for one community. The opposite 3.5 million viewers got here from those that watched it on different platforms, together with CBS Tv Community, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, CBS Sports activities, in addition to Univision and NFL digital properties (like NFL+). A complete of 202.4 million viewers watched “all or half” (at the least six minutes) of the sport, which is roughly 60% of the U.S. inhabitants. It was up 10% over final 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl, which beforehand held the document for many most-watched program in TV historical past.
How does that examine to the TV document books?
This Tremendous Bowl is the most-watched U.S. TV broadcast because the 1969 Apollo 11 moon touchdown, in response to analysis from Nielsen, which measures media audiences. That information occasion aired on a number of networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) and drew between 125 and 150 million viewers. The latter quantity was almost three-fourths of the U.S. inhabitants, which at the moment was 202 million. The U.S. inhabitants has since swelled to 335 million in 2023.
The remainder of the highest 10 most-watched TV applications of all time are different Tremendous Bowls, airing on single networks:
Tremendous Bowl LVII in 2023 (115.11M)
Tremendous Bowl XLIX in 2015 (114.4M)
Tremendous Bowl LVI in 2022 (112.3M)
Tremendous Bowl XLVIII in 2014 (112.2M)
Tremendous Bowl 50 in 2016 (111.9M)
Tremendous Bowl XLVI in 2012 (111.3M)
Tremendous Bowl LI in 2017 (111.3M)
Tremendous Bowl XLV in 2011 (111M)
Nonsporting occasions within the high 25 record embrace Richard Nixon’s 1974 resignation speech, a information occasion that aired on a number of networks, drawing 110M viewers.
So far as different applications, the M*A*S*H sequence finale in 1983 had 105.9 M viewers and stays the most-watched TV finale ever.
The Day After, a two-hour TV film a couple of nuclear assault on Center America, aired (and scared!) viewers in 1983, drawing 100M viewers. It’s nonetheless the most-watched TV film ever.
The identical variety of individuals, 100M, tuned into the finale for the Roots miniseries, in response to the Historical past Channel.
Additionally excessive within the ranks is the 1978 episode of TV cleaning soap Dallas, which revealed who shot J.R. (83.6M tuned in) and the finales of Cheers in 1993 (80.5M) and Seinfeld in 1998 (76.3M).
On the information entrance, the O.J. Simpson automotive chase, airing on a number of networks in 1994, drew 95 million gawking watchers.
Tremendous Bowl has turn out to be uncommon ‘cultural glue’
Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Middle for Tv and Common Tradition at Syracuse College, tells Yahoo Leisure that the “extraordinary” factor to him in regards to the monumental quantity of people that tuned in to this 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl is that it comes at a time when viewers can watch something at a given second, due to streaming.
“We now have all these different decisions,” he says. “As an illustration, the Oscars used to get enormous rankings as a result of there have been three networks on primetime. You had three decisions. So it was inevitable that when cable got here alongside, and you might select from different issues, that the rankings of the whole lot would go down as a result of the pie was in additional items. Then when streaming got here, you anticipated an actual tumble due to all of these different decisions. What meaning is there actually is not any extra of that sense of all people watching the identical factor on the identical time — that ‘cultural glue.’ So when it occurs, it’s so treasured and so beneficial.”
Now, it actually dependably occurs solely every year — for the Tremendous Bowl.
“The Tremendous Bowl is definitely benefiting from the fragmentation of the viewers,” Thompson explains. “Every thing else goes down [in ratings] — dramas, comedies, awards reveals — none of them get the numbers that they received pre-streaming and even pre-cable, aside from the Tremendous Bowl.”
He attributes it to the Tremendous Bowl being “fastidiously constructed as a nationwide vacation” with enchantment past simply soccer followers.
It’s “a vacation primarily based round a TV present,” he explains. “In truth, three reveals rolled up into one soccer recreation: There’s the precise soccer recreation, the musical efficiency within the halftime present and the Madison Avenue Movie Competition which can be the commercials. And we now have been fastidiously conditioned to assume that the Tremendous Bowl is [a] must-watch and also you’ve received to have a celebration.” The ritualistic points round it make it a uncommon widespread shared expertise.
Today, there isn’t that sort of group that had been commonplace round finales (like we noticed with M*A*S*H and Seinfeld) or huge episodes (together with Lucy having her child on I Love Lucy in 1953, which drew an estimated 44 million viewers) or the Beatles on Ed Sullivan (73 million viewers in 1964), which was within the information final week on its anniversary. So this 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl numbers are actually “a leap, not a creep” of their 8.29 million viewership enhance, Thompson says.
That takes us to the Swift issue — and whether or not the pop famous person relationship Chiefs star Travis Kelce received extra individuals to tune in, which has been extremely debated. (A ballot from shopper analysis agency Numerator confirmed 20% of 2024 Tremendous Bowl viewers stated they have been rooting for the Chiefs due to Kelce’s much-covered relationship, in response to Selection.)
“As I resisted the concept the Taylor Swift impact may very well be that huge, I believe we do must account for that,” he says. “It’s the largest soar in a very long time.”
In the meantime, Usher headlining the halftime present little doubt contributed to viewership as properly. The singer sang and roller-skated on the stage at Allegiant Stadium with particular friends, together with Alicia Keys, Jermaine Dupri, H.E.R., will.i.am, Lil Jon and Ludacris. Usher additionally received married in Las Vegas over the weekend.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there aren’t any breakout numbers on his a part of the present particularly. Nielsen is predicted to launch extra numbers.
