Super Bowl LVI Ratings Comparisons: What is the Truth?

Network spin is nothing new, and nothing I haven't talked about in-depth before - most recently in regards to HBO and "Euphoria." However, there really isn't anything quite like Super Bowl-spin. It being by far the most-watched event of the year, its ratings are reported in basically any and every U.S. news publication you can think of, and this reporting is often lifted directly from the network press release. NBC's press release is actually not bad as it's pretty transparent with the ratings; my only qualm is with the historical comparisons.

Looking at the linear TV viewership, Nielsen reported 99.178 million viewers for the game, and NBC does acknowledge this figure in their release - rounding it to an even 99.2 million. Nielsen also reported, and NBC acknowledges, an additional 1.91 million viewers on Spanish-language network Telemundo. Together, this is a linear TV total of about 101.09 million viewers. All of that is fine. The issue comes with how the streaming audience is integrated into their Total Audience Delivery (TAD) figure.

Super Bowl Ratings (1967-present)

UPDATED FOR SUPER BOWL LVI: Below are the Nielsen ratings for every Super Bowl back to Super Bowl I in 1967. There are several columns of data in the chart below, including HH data (presented in ratings form & viewership form), average viewership, and total viewership for every game. Average viewership is the standard viewership metric while total viewership refers to the number of unique people who watched at least 6 minutes of the broadcast. Beginning with Super Bowl XX in 1986, local market ratings are included for both competing cities, and beginning with Super Bowl XXVI in 1992, 18-49 ratings are available. A second chart includes the streaming numbers beginning in 2012, as well as four sub-demos, and median age data back to 2010. I am missing some of the sub-demo data, so if anyone has that data, please let me know.

Broadcast TV Ratings: Week Ending February 7, 2021

Below is a recap of the broadcast TV ratings for the week ending February 7, 2021. With a few exceptions this chart includes programs that aired in primetime (8pm-11pm) on the broadcast networks in the week. All reruns and theatrical movies are excluded.  

U.S. Primetime Broadcast TV Ratings: 1/29 - 2/4/2018

Ratings highlights for the week of January 29, 2018 - February 4, 2018 in the U.S.

The week ending February 4, 2018 was bookended by the highest-rated event of the year in the United States: Super Bowl LII. The Super Bowl averaged a 43.1/68 rating/share in households (down from 45.3 last year) as well as a 33.4/78 in adults 18-49. In viewers, the game averaged 103.39 million viewers and had a total audience delivery (TAD) of 159.1 million. Both of those figures are down from last year's game, which averaged 111.3 million viewers and a TAD of 172 million. An additional 2.02 million people streamed the game on NBC Platforms. The top local markets for the game were Buffalo, NY (56.4/78), Philadelphia, PA (56.2/81), and Boston, MA (55.9/81). The post-Super Bowl episode of 'This Is Us' notched a 9.3/32 rating/share in the key demo with 26.97 million viewers. 

Looking at the week as a whole, NBC easy took victory in both adults 18-49 (7.1/25) and total viewers (23.08 million) due to airing the Super Bowl. CBS ranked second (1.4/4, 6.08 million), ABC third (1.2/3, 3.77 million), and FOX fourth (1.0/3, 2.87 million). The top shows of the week for CBS were 'The Big Bang Theory' (2.9/12, 14.69 million), 'Young Sheldon' (2.3/9, 12.92 million), and 'Mom' (1.55/6, 9.11 million). On ABC, the top airings belonged to 'Grey's Anatomy' (2.3/9, 8.93 million), 'The Bachelor' (1.7/6, 6.36 million), and 'Scandal' (1.4/5, 5.62 million). A slow week on FOX was led by '9-1-1' (1.65/6, 6.21 million), and 'The Four' (1.3/5, 2.76 million). 'The Flash' (0.9/3, 2.6 million) led the week on CW. 

Super Bowl LII Local Market Ratings

Below are the local market ratings for the 27 markets in which local data was made available for 'Super Bowl LII.' The top market for game surprisingly belonged to Buffalo, NY (56.4 rating), which was just two-tenths higher than competing city Philadelphia, PA (56.2), and five-tenths higher than other competing city Boston, MA (55.9). Host city Minneapolis, MN tied Pittsburgh, PA (54.9) for fourth place. Both Atlanta, GA and Birmingham, AL experienced high drops from last year to this year, both falling about 10 percentage points from last year's Super Bowl. Outside of the host city and competing cities, Miami, FL and New Orleans, LA were the only markets to experience growth from last year, the former rising slightly from 37.8 to 38.7, and the latter up from 48.4 to 53.0. Salt Lake City, UT had the lowest ratings of all major markets (37.7, 56th ranked), while newly NFL-less St. Louis, MO ranked fourth from last (41.6, 53rd).

U.S. Broadcast TV Ratings: Week Ending February 5, 2017

Below are the broadcast TV ratings for the week ending February 5, 2017. The first chart includes ratings based on households (HH), adults 18-34, adults 18-49 (to two-decimal places), adults 25-54, and total viewers (presented in millions) while the second chart presents sub-demographic ratings (divided by gender) for adults 18-34 and adults 18-49. A third chart is also provided which includes persons-using-television (PUT) 18-49 data for each day of the week (except Saturdays). Note: most reruns are excluded from the chart below.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 7, 2016 CABLE TV RATINGS

Select Ratings from Original Cable telecasts on Sunday February 7, 2016:

Sunday was a slow night on cable as many networks took the night off instead of going up against THE SUPER BOWL. SUPER BOWL 50, on CBS, brought in 111.86 million viewers, down from the 114.44 million who saw SUPER BOWL XLIX last year, and from the 112.19 million who saw SUPER BOWL XLVIII in 2014.

On cable, THE PUPPY BOWL (Animal Planet) led the day with 2.2 million viewers, down from last years 2.77 million, and THE KITTEN BOWL (Hallmark) was down to 756,000 viewers this year (from 1.33 million). On Showtime, SHAMELESS (which aired new) took an obvious fall, down to 1.16m viewers (from 1.7 million), BILLIONS went down to 851,000 viewers (from 1.28 million), and THE CIRCUS fell to 85,000 viewers (from 158K). Other shows that aired new include: Velocity's TECH GARAGE (160,000), and GAC's FLEA MARKET FLIP (146,000). Among lower-rated cables, Ovation's RACHEL HUNTER'S TOUR OF BEAUTY ticked down to 28,000 (from 30K), THE LOS ANGELES TIMES: THE ENVELOPE rose slightly to 19,000 (from 14K), and the series finale of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR found 16,000 (from 10K two weeks ago).