How the NFL keeps breaking viewership records

The Eagles weren’t the only ones scoring big on Feb. 9 — Super Bowl ratings soared too.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ 40–22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs was the most-watched TV telecast in the U.S. of all time, with 127.7 million viewers. It broke last year’s record of 123 million, when the game came down to overtime.

“We’ve all come to expect massive ratings year after year; however, the game’s record-high viewership this year remains significant,” says Sam Nursall, a senior analyst at Ampere Analysis. “Record viewership is never a given, though the Super Bowl has achieved it in its last two iterations.”

How does the event keep building on its audience? Yes, the NFL is immensely popular, accounting for 72 of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in the U.S. last year. But there’s more to this than the NFL’s popularity.

The answer partly comes down to the way Nielsen measured this year’s viewership compared to last year.

Expanded measurement

Such a lopsided contest would typically lead to a falloff in viewership. The last time a Super Bowl ended with such a wide margin was in 2021; that 31–9 match was watched by 96.4 million viewers, at the time the worst ratings since 2007.

But Nielsen expanded its measuring capabilities ahead of this year’s game. Earlier this month, it announced that its out-of-home (OOH) measurement now accounts for “100% of the U.S. contiguous television population,” up from 66% last year.

In other words, Nielsen counted the full breadth of OOH viewership in the country, including bars and restaurants where fans typically gather for marquee sports events.

Another thing: In January, the Media Ratings Council approved Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel, which combines first-party livestreaming data from smart TVs and cable boxes with the company’s national-panel measurement.

Other factors

There are other potential reasons that the game might have soared this year.

Popular teams and markets: According to YouGov's Q4 2024 data, the Chiefs and Eagles are the seventh- and eighth-most famous NFL teams, respectively, based on public awareness. In terms of popularity — measured by positive opinion — they rank fourth and 12th.

Nursall says that Ampere Analysis’ sports consumer survey shows the Chiefs are the most-followed team among casual fans, a “group that tends to especially tune in for the Super Bowl,” and among female fans (likely thanks to the Taylor Swift bump).

Not to mention, Philadelphia is the fourth-biggest TV market in the U.S.

A shorter game: Sure, last year’s contest was an overtime nail-biter — but that doesn’t necessarily mean bigger ratings. The longer the game, the more likely it is that viewers tap out. And this year’s Super Bowl was 31 minutes shorter than last year’s, according to Nielsen.

Options to watch: The game aired on Fox, Fox Deportes, Telemundo and Tubi. The latter attracted 13.6 million viewers, marking the first time the Super Bowl had aired on a free ad-supported streaming TV service. Last year, CBS offered the game free to stream on Paramount+ for nonsubscribers if they signed up for a trial, after which they’d have to cancel or be charged. And two years ago, the game only aired on Fox and Fox Deportes.

“Showing these advertisers that we have the chops to stream the biggest media event of the year, then you think of us in the same mind space as Netflix and not Pluto TV or Roku,” Tubi CMO Nicole Parlapiano recently told The Current.