Viewership of the Super Bowl keeps climbing, but the 49ers still can’t get an extra point.
The NFL said a league-commissioned custom survey by Nielsen determined that the Super Bowl on February 11 reached 210 million viewers across broadcast, streaming and digital properties.
The 210 million is up 6% from the result of a similar study a year ago. It is also up 4% from the 202 million unique viewers Nielsen’s syndicated ratings service came up with. It's also an eye-popping two-thirds of the country.
The custom survey also determined that the average minute audience was about 143 million viewers, up from the 123.7 million reported by Nielsen on February 13 and 123.4 million reported by CBS on February 12. Nielsen rival iSpot calculated on February 12 that 126,6 million were watching.
“The Super Bowl is singular across the television and media landscape not only in its unparalleled viewership, but because it is largely watched in group settings," said Paul Ballew, chief data and analytics officer of the NFL. “With that in mind, additional measurement is needed in order to have a complete picture of the total viewership of this special event and the results of this custom survey with Nielsen illustrate the true magnitude of the Super Bowl."
Part of the custom survey involved looking at 5,267 households to determine the size of viewing groups and to determine if those groups are larger than Nielsen’s estimate. The survey was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.
Changes in the way out-of-home viewing is measured and added to total viewership have pushed the ratings of sports higher. For the Super Bowl, a lot of people seem to be watching in other people's homes.
“Nielsen understands the nuance of the Super Bowl, which historically has drawn the largest television audience of the year and includes unparalleled viewership from large groups of people, both in and out of homes," said Deirdre Thomas, chief product officer at Nielsen. “We are proud that the NFL partners with Nielsen to provide the best possible measurement of their programming, for the Super Bowl and throughout the season. Additionally, we're excited about the expansion of our National Out-Of-Home panel, which we announced earlier this month, because it will enhance our ability to provide the most complete picture of the audience, especially for major events like the Super Bowl.”
In the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs won in overtime after a blocked extra point enabled the Chiefs to tie the game in the fourth quarter.
