Last year’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers ended with a thrilling overtime finish, delivering an estimated 123.7 million viewers on CBS, Nickelodeon, Paramount+, Univision and digital properties owned by CBS Sports and the NFL. Measurements for the game provided from Nielsen Media Research and Adobe Analytics tabbed the matchup as the highest average viewership for a Super Bowl in league history. The game also earned the distinction as the most-watched program ever recorded in U.S. television.
Super Bowl LIX featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will be televised this year on FOX, Telemundo and FOX Deportes, while also being available across NFL digital properties with unauthenticated access on digital devices. Moreover, the game will be simulcast in 4K resolution on Tubi, the free ad-supported streaming service owned by the Fox Corporation. The game also occurs shortly after Nielsen Media Research announced that its out-of-home measurement covers 100% of the U.S. contiguous television population, up from 66% in the previous year.
The broadcast booth this year features Kevin Burkardt alongside Tom Brady, who is making his Super Bowl broadcasting debut. In addition to the game, there will also be a halftime performance from award-winning rap artist Kendrick Lamar. This past week on Media Row, Barrett Media spoke with media executives and personalities to discuss the potential average viewership for the Big Game. While the exact predictions surrounding average viewership were optimistic, interviewees offered varying reasoning for their prognostications.
Stephen A. Smith – ESPN, Straight Shooter Media
“I think it’ll be relatively the same. People are complaining that there’s an absence of interest because you’ve got two predictable teams that are there. I don’t agree with that. I think the Super Bowl is the Super Bowl. I think it’s established itself as the preeminent event in North American sports, and I think that everybody will watch. And so I assume that that number will be the same. I also believe that what may contribute to the number is Kendrick Lamar and his halftime performance. I think that that’s going to have, albeit a slight impact, nevertheless a positive impact, on what ultimately the viewership will be.”
Prediction: Around 123-125 million viewers
Justin Craig – ESPN
“I hadn’t even given it consideration. It’s got to be bigger — it has to be — I mean, just naturally. The numbers just keep going up every single year; every single game the numbers keep growing, so I would assume it’s going up.”
Prediction: 131.2 million viewers
Dianna Russini – The Athletic
“Definitely higher this year. I think let’s just start with what we all know everyone is tuning for. They want to see Taylor again. I don’t think people are exhausted by it yet, but just the fact that history could be made with the Chiefs going for the three-peat, something that we’ve never seen before obviously with that star power. And just the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles, it’s such a big market and they are such a talented team. It just feels big, and maybe because it’s in New Orleans too.”
Prediction: 125 million viewers
Christopher ‘Mad Dog’ Russo – SiriusXM, ESPN
“Taylor Swift — that’s worn itself out a little bit. Last year, the game went to overtime, which adds a lot of viewers. You can’t expect that again. FOX you get a little less with the rating on FOX that you would on CBS or NBC. I would say a little less than 123.”
Prediction: 110-112 million viewers
Dan Patrick – FOX Sports Radio, Peacock
“I don’t make predictions on how many are watching, but it usually goes up every single year. I don’t know if it factors in with Chiefs fatigue or that we’ve seen this matchup two years ago, but it’s still the only game, and it feels like there’s more and more football fans, Taylor Swift fans will be watching the Super Bowl, so I would expect it to exceed what it was last year.”
Sam Farber – Yahoo Sports
“I’m going to guess higher, though I think there’s a little bit of fatigue. I think you see that in the secondary ticket price and some of these other underlying metrics where it’s two fanbases that have been there recently who have seen their team. But look, at the end of the day, you’ve got the Chiefs going for a three-peat, which has never been done before, and you have Pat Mahomes, the best player in the league. You also have the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce angle, and the Eagles obviously have a huge fanbase and a star-studded roster. I’m going to take the over on that.”
Prediction: 135 million viewers
Caroline Fenton – Yahoo Sports
“If I see it going anywhere, I would see it just going a smidge lower, and I think that’s kind of the trend that we’re seeing with all datapoints with the Super Bowl. The ticket prices this year are down 30% from what they were just a couple of weeks ago. Frankly, I think people are just tired of seeing the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, they’re tired of seeing the Eagles. It’s the same matchup that we saw two [years] ago. It’s still the Super Bowl — people are still going to watch — but I think people have just a little bit of Chiefs fatigue.”
Prediction: 120 million viewers
Richelle Markazene – Omaha Productions
“I’m going to go with my gut. I’m just going to say higher. You have the Taylor Swift effect again. I’m going to go higher.”
Prediction: 124 million viewers
Parker Hillis – SportsRadio 610
“I think it’s going to be higher. I know there’s been a lot of frustration from fans that we’re going to get to see a game we saw two years ago, but look, the game’s growing. We all know the game’s growing [with] more platforms than ever before. It would be virtually impossible for it to be lower in number than it was last year.”
Prediction: 135 million viewers
Mina Kimes – ESPN, Omaha Productions
“Given the matchup, I actually could see it going up because this is a pretty ideal matchup for the NFL from a viewership perspective.”
Prediction: Perhaps 125 million viewers
Don Martin – iHeartMedia, FOX Sports Radio
“It’ll definitely be higher. It’s going to be higher for a couple of reasons in my mind. (A) it’s a rematch. The last time they played was a stunning game, so you’re going to get that. The second piece of the puzzle is everybody talks about the Taylor thing last year. This three-peat thing that has never, ever happened will get everybody going, and remember Taylor’s still there, so you’re going to still get the female audience as well. The difference this year for me too is because we just came through an election cycle, every TV set will be on this Super Bowl, whether it’s the pregame, the halftime or the in-game. Look at everything else in the world of sports. Everything is setting records right now — this will too.”
Prediction: 126 million viewers
Katie Mox – CBS Sports
“I see it going a little bit lower. When you think about the franchises that were in the last Super Bowl, I am biased because I am a 49ers fan, but that is one of the premier franchises in the NFL. They’ve got not just fans in one place like I feel like Philadelphia is — they’ve got global fans. So I feel like it’s going to be under last year, and I work for CBS and I don’t want FOX to get more.”
Prediction: 121.9 million viewers
Q Myers – ESPN, Las Vegas Sports Network
“Chiefs-Eagles part two. I think you got to go a little higher.”
Prediction: 132 million viewers
Jane Slater – NFL Media
“Absolutely higher. You’ve got two incredible teams. I just got done talking to Vic Fangio, and he just talked about the excitement and the challenge of facing a guy like Patrick Mahomes, who this is a guy you can’t beat in one way, and so I think seeing Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes, the future of the game, I think you’re going to see huge numbers, and Kendrick Lamar just winning a Grammy.”
Andrew Perloff – Infinity Sports Network
“I’ve thought a lot about this – higher.”
Prediction: 141 million viewers
Claudia Bellofatto – DraftKings Network
“I think people are familiar with these two teams. These are the teams nobody really wanted, but we all knew the Chiefs were going to get here. They have that sort of separate fanbase because of the Swifties, and the Eagles are a team I think that’s really easy to root for, and they have a star in Saquon Barkley, who makes this team very different than they were two years ago.”
Prediction: 125.5 million viewers
Lucy Rohden – Meadowlark Media
“I kind of think it will stay the same. The Taylor Swift effect has already sort of taken its place — I don’t think that’s going to grow more than it’s already grown. I think the fact that it’s not entirely the Kelce bowl doesn’t help its case as much. I mean, a lot of people are going to watch the Super Bowl. Obviously I think it’s the two best teams, so I’m not disappointed with the matchup, but I’m kind of desperate for something new, and so I think everyone is sort of in the same boat where we’re like, ‘Okay, great. The Chiefs another year,’ so I think it’s going to lose a little bit of its pizazz and flair, but I don’t think that nobody’s going to watch. That’s my hot take. I think that people will watch the Super Bowl.”
Additional Predictions:
Beau Wegmann, 104.5 ESPN Baton Rouge: 130 million viewers
Matt Moscona, 104.5 ESPN Baton Rouge: 125.3 million viewers
Nyshon Zaragoza, ESPN Las Vegas: 141.3 million viewers
Jered Justus – ESPN Las Vegas: 137.9 million viewers
Michael Samtur – Infinity Sports Network: 121 million viewers
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