Ratings: Super Bowl LVI Bounces Back on NBC, Is the Most-Streamed NFL Game Ever
After hitting a low for the game in 2021, did this year’s Super Bowl bounce back on February 13?
Yes, it did, with the 2022 game, in which the Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20. For the NBC broadcast, 99.2 million viewers tuned in, with 1.9 million watching on Telemundo (totaling 101.1 million viewers). With multi-platform numbers, including those who live-streamed the game on Peacock, 112.3 million viewers tuned in, making it the most-watched show in five years (since Super Bowl LI in February 2017). Its total reach was 167 million viewers. It was also the most-streamed Super Bowl ever.
“The Super Bowl once again delivered a massive audience, which included NBC and the unmatched power of broadcast television as well as first-ever presentations on Peacock and Telemundo, and led into our most-watched Olympics coverage in four years,” said Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, in a statement.
The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for the live stream via Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms, NFL Digital platforms, Rams and Bengals mobile properties, and Yahoo Sports mobile properties was 6.0 million.
The post-Super Bowl time slot belonged to the Winter Olympics, which have taken over primetime coverage on NBC for last week and this week (with the Closing Ceremony on February 20). As happens with the programming in that coveted slot, its ratings rose from other nights, with 21.28 million viewers. (The Equalizer scored 20.4 million with its premiere after the Super Bowl in 2021.)
In 2021, the big game was watched by 96.4 million viewers across all platforms (CBS, CBS Sports and NFL digital properties, Buccaneers and Chiefs mobile properties, Verizon Media mobile properties and ESPN Deportes television and digital properties). On CBS alone, 91.6 million tuned in. (In 2020, 102 million watched the game.) However, at the time, it was the most live-streamed NFL game ever, with the “average minute audience” 5.7 million viewers (the highest for any NFL game and up 65% from last year). It was also the first NFL game to deliver more than 1 billion total streaming minutes.
