Super Bowl LV: Viewership registers a 14-year low for the NFL & CBS

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Super Bowl LV saw Tom Brady winning his seventh Super Bowl championship as the Tamba Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansa City Chiefs 31-9 and while a lot of history was made on Sunday, viewership was down considerably year-to-year, according to Nielsen data.

Nielsen saw unprecedented delays in getting the preliminary ratings out for this year's game. The early numbers are usually released the day following the Super Bowl but as Monday came and went, the numbers were still being tallied. As of now, Super Bowl LV drew a total audience of 96.4 million viewers on CBS and a bundle of platforms and other outlets. There had been speculation that, due to a football season that was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, this could end up being one of the least-watched Super Bowls in history and that speculation has turned into a reality. This makes for a 14-year low as this is the smallest audience for the game since 2007 which pulled in 93.18 million viewers.

96.4 million viewers tuning in is still the most-watched show of the past year so don't for CBS and the NFL too much. These are still solid numbers but it is down significantly from last year's 113.4 million total viewers tuning in when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers. "Deadline" also reported that the total numbers from CBS, CBS Sports, and NFL digital properties are also down around 5% from the numbers pulled in on Fox and various platforms last year. The TV-only audience for CBS is 90.7 million viewers which is off by 9% from the 99.91 viewers pulled in by FOX for their TV-only audience last year. This is the smallest TV-only audience for the Super Bowl since 2005. There is some good news to be had about the numbers and it really signals the sign of the times in the wake of the pandemic. Super Bowl LV was the most live-streamed game in history, averaging 5.7 million viewers per minute. That's up a staggering 69% from the previous high in 2020. 

CBS also aired the series premiere of The Equalizer, starring Queen Latifah, after the big game to boost its exposure and that resulted in 20.4 million viewers checking out the Queen in action. It's the most viewership for any non-sports telecast since the Oscars last year but it's also down from the 23.7 million viewers that stuck with Fox after the game to watch The Masked Singer. In the coveted 18-49 demographic, The Equalizer pulled in a 5.1 demo rating which was easily the highest for an entertainment program during this COVID-19 influenced season. The Equalizer isn't expected to maintain these numbers in future airings but it's a big enough start to brag about today.

Much will be made about why the numbers dropped but it really has a lot to do with this season being particularly hampered by the pandemic. Despite the best efforts by the NFL and Roger Goodell to make it seem like relatively empty stadiums were still pumped with the same crowd energy, the regular NFL season saw a 10% ratings decline on average after two years of increases prior to 2020. This decrease was bound to impact the Super Bowl and it appears that it did.

Did YOU watch Super Bowl LV? Are YOU surprised the numbers are down this year?