The game was pretty much over at halftime, which was fine for fans who wanted to tune in solely for Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show.
Yet despite the Eagles’ early blowout of the Chiefs on Sunday evening, Super Bowl LIX set viewership records.
According to NFL.com, Fox’s broadcast averaged a record-setting 127.7 million viewers, which is a 3% lift from last year’s overtime game between the Chiefs and 49ers.
Game viewership peaked at 137.7 million viewers in the second quarter.
The historic number was reached through viewership across Fox, Fox Deportes, Telemundo, Fox’s streaming platform, Tubi and the NFL’s digital platforms.
This year, Tubi delivered 13.6 million viewers, NFL digital almost 1 million and Telemundo and Fox Deportes averaged 1.87 million.
Last year’s game averaged a then-record 123.7 million viewers across CBS, Nickelodeon, Univision, Paramount+ and the NFL App. CBS itself averaged 120 million viewers, which was the largest audience for a single network.
One other interesting result noted by Nielsen is that last year’s Super Bowl LVIII on CBS delivered a higher rating, 43.5, than this year’s Super Bowl LIX on Fox, 41.7.
The Halftime Show, helmed by Kendrick Lamar, delivered for the NFL and Fox as well, averaging 133.5 million viewers. That was a 3% increase from the 129.3 million Usher drew last year.
The success driven by Lamar’ ‘s on-air performance extended to Spotify, where his streaming numbers skyrocketed by 175% overall.
According to Variety, Not Like Us “soared some 430% on Spotify” hours after his ground-breaking performance.
All of the songs he performed shot up by triple digits on the streaming music platform.
“HUMBLE” +300%
“All The Stars (with SZA)” +290%
“Man at the Garden” +260%
“DNA.” +260%
“Euphoria” +260%
“Squabble up” +230%
“Peekaboo (feat. azchike)” +230%
“Luther (with sza)” +170%
“TV off (feat. lefty gunplay)” +170%
This is why artists and their music companies pay to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Fox sold the majority of its inventory for $7 million per 30-second commercial, with a few select spots going for $8 million each. That helped the network generate more than $800 million according to Front Office Sports, which is more than the approximate $650 million they made on the Super Bowl two years ago, and more than the roughly $700 million CBS reported last year.
With the success of the game and the Halftime Show, NBC, who will carry the game next year, is already salivating over the rates they can command, especially considering that they will also carry the Winter Olympics and the NBA All-Star Game in 2026.
