Super Bowl viewership dropped to its lowest level since 2009, declining for the third consecutive year since setting a record in 2015, according to preliminary figures released by Nielsen.
NBC’s coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII Sunday averaged 103.4 million viewers, the 10th most-watched program in U.S. television history.
The figure does not include out of home viewing which is set to be released by Nielsen on Thursday and is expected to increase the audience by several million people.
The viewership was down 7.1 percent from the 111.317 million-average for the Patriots 34-28 overtime victory the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI which aired on Fox.
An average of 2.02 million viewers watched Super Bowl LII’s live stream, a record, according to Adobe Analytics.
Super Bowls set U.S. television viewership records five times in six years beginning in 2010, topping at 114.442 million for the Patriots 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 on NBC.
Viewership began declining after that, with CBS’ telecast of the Denver Broncos 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 in 2016 averaging 111.864 million viewers.
Viewership for most forms of programming, including the NFL, has dropped in recent years, in part because of increased viewership of streaming programming.
The episode of the drama “This Is Us,” that followed NBC’s postgame coverage averaged 27.0 million viewers, the most-watched post-Super Bowl telecast since 2012 when an episode of the singing competition “The Voice” averaged 37.61 million viewers.
Final ratings figures are scheduled to be released Tuesday, but are expected to be similar to Monday’s figures.
—City News Service