.png)
The longest Super Bowl game also became the most-watched program in the history of American television.
According to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, Kansas City's 25-22 overtime victory over San Francisco on Sunday night averaged 123.4 million viewers on television and streaming platforms. This broke last year's record of 115.1 million for Kansas City's last-minute win over Philadelphia and is a 7% increase.
 |
| Image via Peakpx |
The game was broadcast on CBS on broadcast television, Nickelodeon and Univision on cable, the streaming service Paramount+, as well as the NFL's digital platforms.
Nielsen also stated that a record 202.4 million people watched at least part of the game across all networks, a 10% increase from last year's figure of 183.6 million.
The CBS broadcast averaged 120 million viewers. The network's previous record for its most-watched Super Bowl was 112.34 million for the 2016 edition between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers.
Part of the increase can be attributed to a change in how viewers are counted. Nielsen began including out-of-home viewers in its ratings in 2020, but only in limited markets. This measure was expanded to all 50 U.S. states starting this year.
Sunday's game is only the second of the 58 Super Bowls that has needed overtime. The previous one was in 2017 when New England overcame a 28-3 deficit and beat Atlanta 34-28.
“I was managing my expectations, but I had a little hope it would happen,” said CBS Sports President Sean McManus about the overtime, which was set when San Francisco kicker Jake Moody had an extra point blocked in the fourth quarter, keeping the game at three points. “I can't imagine a better or more exciting Super Bowl than this.”
Kansas City forced overtime with a field goal from Harrison Butker. After the 49ers kicked a field goal on the first possession of overtime, the Chiefs won when Patrick Mahomes threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman.
This Super Bowl featured the added appeal of Taylor Swift's presence. The pop superstar is the girlfriend of Chiefs' tight end Travis Kelce, a romance that has attracted new fans to the NFL.
It was the second consecutive year that the Super Bowl averaged over 100 million viewers after a period in which four out of the five games prior to 2023 did not reach that number due to cord-cutting. This included 95.2 million for the 2021 Super Bowl between Tampa Bay and Kansas City, the lowest average for the game on television only since 2007.
Univision averaged over 2.2 million viewers, the highest figure for a Spanish-language television channel broadcasting the Super Bowl in the United States. The Super Bowl has been televised in Spanish in the U.S. since 2014.
NFL playoffs averaged 38.5 million viewers in the first three weekends, a 9% increase from last year.
This followed a regular season that averaged 17.9 million, tied for the second-highest since averages were first recorded in 1995.