Super Bowl LIX Reached Record 182.8M Viewing For At Least A Minute
- by Wayne Friedman , February 18, 2025
Nielsen's new Big Data + Panel measurement says the “Super Bowl LIX” reached 182.8 million viewers -- a record -- for at least one minute on February 9.
Nielsen previously announced that the big game earned a record 127.7 million viewers on Fox Television Network, Tubi, Fox Deportes, Telemundo and NFL digital properties using its average minute audience metric across the entire game.
Super Bowl LIX had the previous record -- at 182.2 million viewers -- for last year’s game.
For that result -- and others previously, the "reach" of the Super Bowl came from using the Nielsen Total Audience Metric -- which Nielsen retired last month in favor of Big Data + Panel reach. Nielsen says this more precisely measures out-of-home viewing.
Last week, Fox Corp. said “Super Bowl LIX” on Fox and Tubi generated over $800 million in gross revenue from advertising sales across all platforms. Media analysts say specific 30-second inventory deals went for $8 million.
advertisement
advertisement
Tubi's simulcast of the game posted an average 13.6 million average minute audience.
Pre-game coverage earned 23.4 million
viewers -- also a record result. The "pre-kick" portion of pre-game -- the minutes before kickoff -- averaged 82.5 million viewers, up 9% over last year’s 75.8 million.
| Super Bowl | Network(s) | Total Viewers P2+ | HHLD Rating | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIX | FOX, Tubi, Telemundo, FOX Deportes | 127,713,000 | 41.7 | Feb. 9, 2025 |
| LVIII | CBS, Univision, Nickelodeon, NAN, Paramount+ | 123,714,000 | 43.5 | Feb. 11, 2024 |
| LVII | FOX FOX Deportes | 115,096,000 | 40.7 | Feb. 12, 2023 |
| LVI | NBC Telemundo | 101,470,000 | 37.9 | Feb. 13, 2022 |
| LV | CBS ESPN Deportes | 95,877,000 | 38.4 | Feb. 7, 2021 |
| LIV | FOX FOX Deportes | 102,086,000 | 42.0 | Feb. 2, 2020 |
| LIII | CBS ESPN Deportes | 98,950,000 | 41.4 | Feb. 3, 2019 |
| LII | NBC Universo | 104,016,000 | 43.1 | Feb. 4, 2018 |
| LI | FOX FOX Deportes | 111,973,000 | 45.3 | Feb. 5, 2017 |
| SB 50 | CBS ESPN Deportes | 112,336,000 | 46.6 | Feb. 7, 2016 |
| XLIX | NBC Universo | 114,810,000 | 47.5 | Feb. 1, 2015 |
| XLVIII | FOX FOX Deportes | 112,752,000 | 46.7 | Feb. 2, 2014 |
| XLVII | CBS | 108,693,000 | 46.4 | Feb. 3, 2013 |
| XLVI | NBC | 111,346,000 | 47.1 | Feb. 5, 2012 |
| XLV | FOX | 111,041,000 | 46.0 | Feb. 6, 2011 |
| XLIV | CBS | 106,476,000 | 45.0 | Feb. 7, 2010 |
| XLIII | NBC | 98,732,000 | 42.0 | Feb. 1, 2009 |
| XLII | FOX | 97,448,000 | 43.1 | Feb. 3, 2008 |
| XLI | CBS | 93,184,000 | 42.6 | Feb. 4, 2007 |
| XL | ABC | 90,745,000 | 41.6 | Feb. 5, 2006 |
| XXXIX | FOX | 86,072,000 | 41.1 | Feb. 6, 2005 |
| XXXVIII | CBS | 89,795,000 | 41.4 | Feb. 1, 2004 |
| XXXVII | ABC | 88,637,000 | 40.7 | Jan. 26, 2003 |
| XXXVI | FOX | 86,801,000 | 40.4 | Feb. 3, 2002 |
| XXXV | CBS | 84,335,000 | 40.4 | Jan. 28, 2001 |
| XXXIV | ABC | 88,465,000 | 43.3 | Jan. 30, 2000 |
| XXXIII | FOX | 83,720,000 | 40.2 | Jan. 31, 1999 |
| XXXII | NBC | 90,000,000 | 44.5 | Jan. 25, 1998 |
| XXXI | FOX | 87,870,000 | 43.3 | Jan. 26, 1997 |
| XXX | NBC | 94,080,000 | 46.0 | Jan. 28, 1996 |
| XXIX | ABC | 83,420,000 | 41.3 | Jan. 29, 1995 |
| XXVIII | NBC | 90,000,000 | 45.5 | Jan. 30, 1994 |
| XXVII | NBC | 90,990,000 | 45.1 | Jan. 31, 1993 |
| XXVI | CBS | 79,590,000 | 40.3 | Jan. 26, 1992 |
| XXV | ABC | 79,510,000 | 41.9 | Jan. 27, 1991 |
| XXIV | CBS | 73,852,000 | 39.0 | Jan. 28, 1990 |
| XXIII | NBC | 81,590,000 | 43.5 | Jan. 22, 1989 |
| XXII | ABC | 80,140,000 | 41.9 | Jan. 31, 1988 |
| XXI | CBS | 87,190,000 | 45.8 | Jan. 25, 1987 |
| XX | NBC | 92,570,000 | 48.3 | Jan. 26, 1986 |
| XIX | ABC | 85,530,000 | 46.4 | Jan. 20, 1985 |
| XVIII | CBS | 77,620,000 | 46.4 | Jan. 22, 1984 |
| XVII | NBC | 81,770,000 | 48.6 | Jan. 30, 1983 |
| XVI | CBS | 85,240,000 | 49.1 | Jan. 24, 1982 |
| XV | NBC | 68,290,000 | 44.4 | Jan. 25, 1981 |
| XIV | CBS | 76,240,000 | 46.3 | Jan. 20, 1980 |
| XIII | NBC | 74,740,000 | 47.1 | Jan. 21, 1979 |
| XII | CBS | 78,940,000 | 47.2 | Jan. 15, 1978 |
| XI | NBC | 62,050,000 | 44.4 | Jan. 9, 1977 |
| X | CBS | 57,710,000 | 42.3 | Jan. 18, 1976 |
| IX | NBC | 56,050,000 | 42.4 | Jan. 12, 1975 |
| VIII | CBS | 51,700,000 | 41.6 | Jan. 13, 1974 |
| VII | NBC | 53,320,000 | 42.7 | Jan. 14, 1973 |
| VI | CBS | 56,640,000 | 44.2 | Jan. 16, 1972 |
| V | NBC | 46,040,000 | 39.9 | Jan. 17, 1971 |
| IV | CBS | 44,270,000 | 39.4 | Jan. 11, 1970 |
| III | NBC | 41,660,000 | 36.0 | Jan. 12, 1969 |
| II | CBS | 39,120,000 | 36.8 | Jan. 14, 1968 |
| I | CBS | 26,750,000 | 22.6 | Jan. 15, 1967 |
| I | NBC | 24,430,000 | 18.5 | Jan. 15, 1967 |
Source: Nielsen.
The first Super Bowl to include Out-of-Home (OOH) viewing was SB LV. Nielsen began including OOH viewing into its National TV measurement in September 2020. As of Feb. 2025, Nielsen’s OOH measurement covers 100% of the U.S. contiguous television population.
Super Bowl XLVIII included the first Spanish-language broadcast for a Super Bowl.
Super Bowl I (January 15, 1967) aired on both CBS and NBC.
I usually laugh at vanity metrics in the digital world: impressions (served), open rates on email and, now, "reached for at least 1 minute". This is the epitome of a vanity metric. Really... who cares? If I were an advertiser all I would care about is how many people saw my ad (and, naturally, outside of the SB, did my PR firm get my ad tons and tons of traction?). From the POV of a company that is paying $8 million per spot and having to buy a package to obtain premium positioning, what I want is people watching my spot.
I would love to hear why anyone would think that "at least 1 minute" is valuable.
Marcello, not all rating info is about ads. Nielsen was using the 1+ minutes rule way back in the 1950s as a way to indicate the "holding power" of TV show content. It has some uses. For example if half hour Show A holds those who sampled it for at least 60 seconds for 85% of its content while Show B's samplers remained tuned in for only 75% of its half hour content and both programs are in the same program genre, than Show B is less engaging. What's more if Show A begins to trend downward in its holding power stats acroiss a succession of episodes that could be a sign of trouble for the producer and network.
Sample size permitting holding power indices can also be developed by age or income or ethnic groupings, offering additional insights. In the case of the last SB, all Nielsen is telling us is that those homes who sampled the show consumed 70% of its content in terms of set usaage.
Sorry about misspelling your name, Marcelo.