Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LVIII.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
Super Bowl LVIII was the most-watched television show in history, as approximately 123.4 million people watched the Kansas City Chiefs rally in overtime to defeat the San Francisco 49ers.
CBS Sports said the figure includes viewers across all platforms and is up 7% from last year’s 115.1 million average viewers, which was also the previous record.
This year’s game was the most streamed Super Bowl in history, with record audiences Fundamental+, the network said. He added that the network had its best postseason viewership since 1998.
Sunday’s big game had a lot for audiences to tune into: two of the best teams in the National Football League, an Usher halftime show, wacky commercials and, of course, a very public romance.
Those who tuned in just for the iconic series of Super Bowl commercials saw plenty of snack ads for brands like Oreos, Pringles, Mountain Dew, Doritos and M&Ms. There were also many celebrity endorsers such as Christopher Walken, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Tom Brady, Beyoncé, Quinta Brunson, Jenna Ortega, Kate McKinnon and Jennifer Aniston.
The NFL enjoyed strong crowds during this year’s playoffs. Late last month, the Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens in the most-watched AFC championship game ever.
Live sports have shown strength even as TV audiences have fragmented and moved to streaming platforms. The value of sports rights emerged this month when Disney’s ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery said they would launch a joint streaming platform later this year. ESPN later announced that it would release its own streaming service in 2025.
— CNBC’s Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.