TV Ratings: The Big Game Was Just Super

Fox’s coverage of Super Bowl LVII was the second- or third-largest audience in U.S. television history, depending on who’s counting and how. Nielsen and Fox’s figures agree it drew 113.05 million viewers. NBC’s coverage of Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1, 2015, which averaged 114.81 million for the New England Patriots’ 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, has the top spot, reports The L-A Times.

But because out-of-home viewing was not included in Nielsen’s viewership figures before September 2020, the 2023 game is No. 2 according to Nielsen and No. 3, behind Fox’s broadcast of the 2017 championship match-up, in the network’s calculations, which included out-of-home numbers for Super Bowl LI.

The 113.05 million figure for Sunday’s game consists of an average of 112.17 million on Fox and 882,000 for the Spanish broadcast on Fox Deportes and includes digital and out-of-home viewing and viewing on the Fox Sports and Fox Now apps and NFL+ streaming service, according to final figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.

Super Bowl viewership increased for the second consecutive year after dropping below 100 million for the second time since 2014 in 2021 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Viewership for the Kansas City Chiefs’ 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles was 11.8% higher than the 101.085 million average for the Rams’ 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI in 2022, which aired on NBC.

NFL programming was the top-ranked prime-time program for 21 of the 22 weeks there was prime-time NFL programming during the 2022 season. The only exception was the week of Dec. 26-Jan. 1 when ESPN’s coverage of Georgia’s 42-41 victory over Ohio State in a College Football Playoff semifinal finished first.

Viewership for “Next Level Chef” was the lowest on record for an entertainment program immediately following the Super Bowl postgame shows. The second-season premiere of the cooking competition series averaged 15.657 million viewers.

President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Feb. 7 averaged the smallest audience for a presidential address to Congress on record, 27.312 million viewers on 16 networks. The previous low was 26.936 million viewers for Biden’s speech to a joint session of Congress in 2021.

As is typical for the network airing the Super Bowl, Fox overwhelmed its rivals, averaging 25.04 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Feb. 6 and Sunday, nearly three times the combined viewership of CBS, ABC and NBC.

CBS averaged 3.96 million viewers and ABC and NBC both 2.94 million. Fox’s most popular program outside of Sunday was “9-1-1: Lone Star,” 25th for the week averaging 3.802 million viewers.

CBS had each of the week’s top 10 prime-time programs airing Feb. 6 thru Saturday, led by “Young Sheldon,” which averaged 7.725 million viewers. Only one other prime-time program between Feb. 6 and Saturday topped 7 million viewers, the CBS action drama “NCIS,” which averaged 7.15 million viewers.

The top 20 prime-time programs consisted of Fox’s coverage of Super Bowl LVII, its two postgame shows and “Next Level Chef”; 10 CBS scripted programs; the CBS special “Super Bowl Greatest Commercials: Battle of the Decades”; NBC’s “America’s Got Talent: All-Stars”; and four State of the Union-related programs, three on Fox News Channel and one on ABC.

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ABC's David Muir, CBS' Norah O'Donnell, NBC's Lester Holt

ABC, NBC and CBS evening newscasts posted week-to-week losses, in all relevant measurements, while NBC and CBS posted year-over-year gains in total viewers.

ABC World News Tonight with David Muir remained the top-rated evening newscast for the week, and has defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 219 of the past 220 weeks in average total viewers—and 148 of the last 150 weeks among adults 25-54. Muir anchored the newscast from Turkey on Thursday and Friday, covering the aftermath of the deadly earthquake that struck both Turkey and Syria. NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 7.24 million total viewers on linear during the week of Feb. 6, making it the fourth-most-watched U.S. show of the week—excluding sports, specials and syndication.  The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.31 million total viewers this past week

ABC’s ratings leader was its State of the Union coverage, which averaged 4.405 million viewers, 20th for the week.  Four State of the Union-related programs on Fox News Channel were the week’s top prime-time cable programs, lead by a 25-minute analysis program that averaged 4.797 million viewers, 17th overall.

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Fox News Channel won the cable network prime time contest for the third consecutive week, averaging 2.437 million viewers. MSNBC was second, averaging 1.318 million viewers and ESPN third, averaging 905,000.

The cable top 20 consisted of nine State of the Union-related programs — four each on Fox News Channel and MSNBC and one on CNN; nine Fox News Channel weeknight political talk shows (five broadcasts of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” three of “Hannity” and one of “The Ingraham Angle”); the MSNBC weekly news and opinion program, “The Rachel Maddow Show”; and TNT’s coverage of the Feb. 7 Lakers-Oklahoma City Thunder game where LeBron James became the NBA’s career scoring leader.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

In terms of individual programming, Tucker Carlson Tonight moved past The Five as the most-watched cable news show for the week. The program drew an average of 3.47 million in the 8 p.m. hour. The Five averaged 3.44 million total viewers at 5 p.m., with Jesse Watters Primetime (3.02 million at 7 p.m.), Hannity (2.965 million at 9 p.m.), and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.58 million at 6 p.m.) rounding out the top five.

TV Newser also reports Carlson has the top spot on cable news among adults 25-54, averaging 490,000 viewers from the measurement at 8 p.m. Hannity came in second with 409,000 viewers at 9 p.m., with The Five (394,000), Watters (340,000), and Gutfeld! (328,000) rounding out the top five in the key A25-54 demo.

Fox News had the 13-most-watched cable news shows for the week. MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell ranks No.14 with 1.47 million at 10 p.m., All In with Chris Hayes ranked No. 15 with 1.42 million at 8 p.m. Additionally, Fox News had the top 15 cable news shows of the week among Adults 25-54. CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 is the top-rated non-Fox News show in the demo (No. 16 — 166,000 viewers at 8 p.m.).

📺STREAMING TV

The fourth season of “You” was Netflix’s most-streamed television program, with viewers spending 92.07 million hours watching the 10 episodes of the psychological thriller in the first four days they were available, according to figures released by the streaming service Tuesday.

“Your Place or Mine” was Netflix’s top movie, with viewers watching the romantic comedy for 51.23 million hours during the first three days it was available.