In a media world dominated by headlines lamenting the downfall of broadcast television, Super Bowl LVIII proved the power the medium maintains.
According to data from iSpot.TV, 126.6 million people watched the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers Sunday evening. But a whopping 121.9 million watched the program on CBS, with an additional 2.9 million watching on Univision.
The viewership totals represent a 10.9% increase in average audience compared to last year’s NFL championship game.
The Super Bowl featured an additional broadcast with a kid-centric focus on Nickelodeon, which averaged 1.75 million viewers. The game was also streamed on the Paramount+ streaming service in the United States, with viewership totals for the digital platform not yet available.
Viewership of the broadcast peaked during the halftime performance, which featured artist Usher being joined by other prominent artists like Alicia Keys, Lil Jon, and Jermaine Dupri, among others.
As always, commercials played a large part in the viewership experience for casual fans. 81 commercials from 65 different advertisers were shown from the 6:40-10:46 PM ET window. In 2022, 59 commercials were show from 51 advertisers.
