Super Bowl LVII Pacing to Become Third Most-Watched Show in TV History

Sunday's game was the most-watched Super Bowl since 2017

Jalen Hurts runs a QB sneak during Super Bowl LVII.
America was intrigued to see Jalen Hurts take on the Chiefs.
Adam Bow/Icon Sportswire via Getty

Nothing brings Americans together quite like chicken wings, beer and Patrick Mahomes.

Super Bowl LVII, which the Chiefs won by defeating the Eagles 38-35 to complete a massive comeback, was the most-watched Super Bowl since 2017 (Falcons vs. Patriots) and is pacing to become the third most-watched show in television history once all of the final ratings are in.

Using data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics that estimated the audience from Fox, Fox Deportes and streaming via the digital sites of Fox and the NFL, Fox is claiming a preliminary audience of 113 million viewers. That puts Sunday’s game behind only the 2017 Super Bowl (113,668,000) and the 2015 game between New England and Seattle on NBC which holds the record at 114,442,000 viewers (not including streaming).

Although Chiefs-Eagles wasn’t an all-time winner in the ratings department, it did beat out last year’s NBC broadcast of Rams-Bengals, which drew 112.3 million viewers across digital and traditional TV platforms. More popular than the game itself was Rihanna’s halftime performance, which drew an average of 118.7 million viewers. The game, which was compelling and came down to the final minute, was enough of a draw that 15.5 million people watched the season premiere of Gordon Ramsay‘s competition show Next Level Chef following the Super Bowl, according to Fox.

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Looking ahead to next year, the Chiefs and Eagles are both favorites to win Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. Here are the current odds, courtesy of DraftKings. (Note that the Jets, who did not make the playoffs last season, are currently in the top 10. That’s because of the Aaron Rodgers speculation…)

1-5: Chiefs (+600), Bills (+700), 49ers (+800), Bengals (+900), Eagles (+900).

6-10: Cowboys (+1400), Chargers (+2200), Ravens (+2200), Jets (+2800), Jaguars (+280).

11-15: Packers (+3000), Broncos (+3000), Dolphins (+3000), Lions (+3000), Rams (+3500).

16-20: Raiders (+4000), Giants (+4000), Browns (+4000), Vikings (+4500), Saints (+5000).

21-26: Steelers (+5500), Panthers (+5500), Patriots (+6000), Buccaneers (+6000), Seahawks (+7000), Commanders (+7000).

27-32: Titans (+7500), Falcons (+7500), Bears (+8000), Colts (+15000), Texans (+20000), Cardinals (+20000).

Interestingly enough, Philadelphia and Kansas City will play each other during the 2023 regular season. The highly anticipated rematch will be played at Arrowhead.

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