Super Bowl Sets All-Time Ratings Record for Second Straight Year

A blowout on the field didn’t deter a record number of viewers from watching Super Bowl LIX.

Sunday’s Fox Sports telecast averaged 127.7 million viewers across all platforms, according to final figures from Nielsen and internal Fox data (that’s up from 126 million in preliminary estimates. That’s the second straight year the Super Bowl has an all-time viewing record in the United States. Sunday’s game is up about about 3 percent compared to last year’s record-setting 123.7 million viewers on CBS (which accounted for 120.25 million of those viewers) and other platforms.

Fox also says the game set a Super Bowl streaming record with 13.6 million viewers on its free streaming platform, Tubi, and 14.5 million including NFL digital platforms, along with 1.87 million viewers for the Spanish-language telecast on Telemundo and Fox Deportes. The previous streaming high was about 11.2 million viewers in 2022.

The primary broadcast on Fox drew 111.33 million viewers, down some from the 120.25 million who watched last year’s game on CBS. But the upswing in streaming more than made up the difference.

The lopsided nature of the game seemingly had no effect on the TV audience. The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22, in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score suggests: The Eagles’ lead was 34-0 late in the third quarter, and 40-6 before a pair of Kansas City touchdowns in the final three minutes of the game.

Viewing peaked at 135.7 million from 8-8:15 p.m. ET, during the game’s second quarter, when the Eagles were building a 24-0 halftime lead. But viewers clearly stuck around for Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show, which averaged 133.5 million viewers across all platforms (vs. 129.3 million a year ago) and included the rapper performing his Grammy-winning, Drake-beefing hit “Not Like Us,” and the second half of the game.

The full streaming audience of 14.5 million viewers, and the 13.6 million attributed to Tubi (based on first-party data and figures from Adobe Analytics), are both Super Bowl records. The Tubi audience is almost double what Fox drew for its last Super Bowl in 2023. Tubi is the first free streamer to carry a Super Bowl.

Following the game, Fox aired the third season premiere of its game show The Floor, which averaged 14 million viewers. While that’s by far the largest audience the show has ever pulled in — its fall run averaged 2.22 million same-day viewers — it’s also a historic low for a show in the post-game spot. The previous low was also on Fox: 15.66 million for Next Level Chef in 2023.

Feb. 11, 1:15 p.m. Updated with final ratings figures for the Super Bowl and The Floor.