Super Bowl LIV ratings see modest rise after four consecutive years of declines
Kansas City Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt (right) hands the Lombardi Trophy to head coach Andy Reid after the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV in Miami Gardens, Fla. Credit: AP/Chris O'Meara
Super Bowl LIV was watched by an average of 99.87 million viewers on Fox on Sunday, a modest rise from the 98.2 million on CBS last year and the first viewership increase after four consecutive years of declines.
Last year's ratings suffered from a lackluster game and an informal boycott of the Super Bowl in the New Orleans market — one of the NFL's most avid — after a controversial non-call in the NFC Championship Game went against the Saints.
Modern viewing patterns make assessing viewership ever more complicated, more so for Super Bowls. Fox said that the total average audience for the game was 102 million when Fox Deportes and digital viewing is included.
The audience will grow in the coming days when other data is added, such as out-of-home viewing.
The Chiefs' 31-20 victory for their first Super Bowl championship in 50 years averaged 89 percent of televisions in use in the Kansas City market, with an astounding 97 percent tuned in for the final quarter hour.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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