Super Bowl LII Viewers Estimated At 103.4 Million, The Smallest Audience Since 2009
The Philadelphia Eagles may have rejoiced at their first Super Bowl victory, but NBC must feel slightly bad at the fact that Sunday's program did not do well in terms of viewership.
7 Percent Drop
The Super Bowl LII dropped in numbers from its 2017 viewership. Records showed only 103.4 million people watched the anticipated game telecast despite the thrill of the competitive game from beginning to end.
That is a 7 percent drop from the 2017 Super Bowl, when 111.3 million tuned in to Fox to watch the New England Patriots win another Vince Lombardi Trophy against the Atlanta Falcons. The Nielsen company said that Sunday's numbers is the smallest Super Bowl audience since 2009, when 98.7 million saw the Pittsburgh Steelers play against the Arizona Cardinals.
The last time the Super Bowl had a huge audience was in 2015, when 114.4 million tuned in to watch the acclaimed New England Patriots take the trophy from then-champion Seattle Seahawks. NBC also aired the game at the time.
However, it is worthy to mention that the 103.4 million does not include the total number of viewers who watched the Super Bowl LII through other means besides the television.
A representative from NBC said that the number would total to 106 million if you add those who followed the Super Bowl online. That accounts for 2.6 million views from the NFL Mobile from Verizon, the NBC Sports app, Yahoo Sports app, Universo, the go90, NFL.com, NBCSports.com, NBC.com TV Everywhere, and the En Vivo app. Nielsen also confirmed that it has yet to add the results from those who watched the game outside of their homes such as in bars.
Super Bowl Halftime Show
Justin Timberlake's return to the stage for the Super Bowl LII Halftime Show also drew in few viewers, compared to Lady Gaga's performance in 2017 and Katy Perry's in 2015. The "Filthy" singer's performance received mixed reviews, and few claimed it was a not a showstopper. His performance was down by 9 percent from Lady Gaga's and earned him 106.6 million views.
Timberlake's return to the Super Bowl also brought back memories of that infamous wardrobe malfunction with Janet Jackson 11 years ago. Viewers worried over another mishap that would transpire during his performance.
On a good note, despite the drop in viewership, the Super Bowl LII landed on the top 10 as the most watched show in the United States.
