Fox Sports is projecting a Super Bowl record average audience of 126 million US viewers across television and streaming platforms watched the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night.
The game was televised by Fox, Fox Deportes and Telemundo and streamed on Tubi as well as the NFL’s digital platforms.
Fox’s projections on Monday included Nielsen’s early numbers and streaming data from Tubi and the NFL. Updated and more complete numbers were expected on Tuesday.
It would be the second straight year the Super Bowl has reached a record audience. The Chiefs’ overtime victory over San Francisco last year averaged 123.7 million on CBS, Nickelodeon, Univision and streaming platforms.
According to Fox, Sunday’s audience peaked at 135.7 million in the second quarter. The early data projects 14.5 million watched on streaming platforms, including 13.6 million on Tubi, where the game was available for free.
Some of the increase can be attributed to a change in the way viewers are counted. This is the first year Nielsen is measuring out-of-home viewers for all states except Hawaii and Alaska. It was previously the top 44 media markets, which covered 65% of the country. The ratings also include Nielsen data from smart TVs along with cable and satellite set-top boxes.
After two straight years of close Super Bowls, Sunday’s game was all but decided in the first half as Philadelphia built a 24-0 lead.
Donald Trump and Taylor Swift were also in attendance. Trump was the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl, while Swift’s relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce keeps the pop superstar’s fans interested in the NFL.
It was the third straight year the Super Bowl averaged more than 100 million viewers after a period when four of the five games before 2023 had fallen short of that number because of cord-cutting. That included 95.2 million for the 2021 Super Bowl between Tampa Bay and Kansas City, which was the game’s lowest TV-only average since 2007.
The NFL playoffs averaged 35.2 million viewers the first three weekends, down 9% from last year’s record of 38.5 million. That followed a regular season that averaged 17.5 million. Though that was the sixth-highest average dating back to 1995, but a 2% decline from 2023.
