Ratings: Super Bowl Hits 14-Year Low, But Is Most Streamed NFL Game Ever
Ratings for Super Bowl LV had an unprecedented delay — a Nielsen spokesperson said they were “still being processed and verified” in a statement on February 8 — and now that they’re in, it’s not exactly good news.
In a 14-year low for the game, a total of 96.4 million viewers — 91.6 on CBS — tuned in to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 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). In comparison, the 2020 game was watched by a total of 102 million viewers.
That being said, this year’s game 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 ever to deliver more than 1 billion total streaming minutes.
Meanwhile, The Equalizer, in the post-Super Bowl time slot, premiered to 20.4 million viewers and a 5.1 rating among adults 18-49. The former number is down from The Masked Singer‘s post-game episode in 2020 (23.7 million).
The Equalizer (2021) where to stream
