Super Bowl ratings for the Kansas City Chiefs overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 11 hit an estimated 123.4 million, according to preliminary Nielsen measurements consolidating viewership on CBS, Paramount+, CBS.com and the CBS app.
That is up 7% from last year and the most ever for a Super Bowl. It also reveals the resounding power of the NFL, though possibly fueled by the presence of Taylor Swift in a suite cheering on her boyfriend and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. It also helped that the game was close and went into overtime. Pew Research released a study last week stating the obvious: a majority of Americans view football as “America’s sport,” far ahead of baseball.
It’s why companies such as Budweiser and T-Mobile paid about $7 million for a single 30-second ad. It’s why Atlanta’s Usher chose to perform the halftime show for no compensation. (Instead, he is now selling tens of thousands of concert tickets and seeing a huge spike in Spotify spins.)
And it’s why some major stars flew into Vegas to watch the game live including Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Martha Stewart, part-time Atlantan Shaquille O’Neal, Justin Bieber, Mark Wahlberg, Elon Musk, Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
Nothing in this day and age comes close in ratings to the Super Bowl on broadcast and cable TV, which has seen massive shrinkage in recent years compared to streaming.
And that 123.4 million number is the average number of viewers at any given time so technically far more people watched at least part of the game.
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