Fox' broadcast of the Chiefs' 31-20 win over the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV drew the first audience gain for the game in five years. The net averaged a total audience delivery of 101.369 million viewers, up 1% from 100.7 million viewers last year for Patriots-Rams on CBS. That figure does not include Fox Deportes but does factor in streaming options. The Eagles' win in Super Bowl LII two years ago drew 105.4 million viewers. K.C. led all markets with a 55.7 local rating for the game, while the S.F.-Oakland-San Jose market did not crack the top 10. Rounding out the top five markets on Fox were Milwaukee, Nashville, Denver and Boston (Austin Karp, THE DAILY). In L.A., Stephen Battaglio notes although the Super Bowl is "by far the most dominant perennial TV event," it had "declined slightly in each of the last four years." Super Bowl LIV's increase over Super Bowl LIII was "helped by a return to halftime entertainment spectacle," as well as "plenty of action." The halftime show was "watched by 103 million viewers on Fox, which was higher than the average for the overall game" (L.A. TIMES, 2/4).
K.C. MASTERPIECE: In K.C., Blair Kerkhoff notes viewership in the Chiefs' home market "peaked in the fourth quarter" with 66.2 rating and a 97 share. K.C. is the U.S.' 32nd-largest media market covering about 900,000 television households (K.C. STAR, 2/4). Because of the rabidness of its fans, there was some speculation that K.C. would set a ratings record for a home market. It came close, posting an 89 share for the entire game, which means that 89% of the TVs in use were tuned to the Super Bowl. That climbed in the game's last 15 minutes to the unheard of 97 share. Fox Exec VP and Head of Strategy & Analytics Mike Mulvihill said, "We've been looking at these numbers for a long time, I can never recall a 97 share for any portion of any event anywhere. It's almost hard to believe." Meanwhile, Fox' pregame show averaged 21.6 million viewers over 4.5 hours, up 26% over last year (John Ourand, SBJ Media).
SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT: AD AGE's Anthony Crupi writes however one chooses to "quantify the ratings data, the NFL heads into the offseason with a spring in its step." The first Super Bowl viewership bump in five years "comes on the heels of back-to-back seasons in which the league's overall TV ratings improved" by 5%. Having rights to the NFL is "absolutely essential to the livelihood of the legacy broadcast networks," and the "bidding will be ferocious" for the next contracts (ADAGE.com, 2/3). NBC NEWS' Dylan Byers notes while TV viewership is "down across the board, live sports still command big audiences, which is why sports rights are still such a big draw for content providers and streaming services" (BYERS MARKET, 2/4).
CANADIAN RECORD: Super Bowl LIV was the most-watched Super Bowl ever in Canada, with a record average audience of 9.5 million viewers on CTV, TSN and RDS. Nearly 18.7 million unique Canadian viewers tuned in to watch some part of Sunday's game (CTV).
