The initial numbers were great. The final numbers were even greater.
Initially pegged at 126 million viewers for Super Bowl LIX between the Chiefs and Eagles, the final number bumped to 127.7 million.
It’s a three-percent increase over last year’s record audience of 123.7 million.
The halftime show featuring Kendrick Lamar, with cameos from Samuel L. Jackson and others, hit a record high of 133.5 million.
The numbers received a boost from the new Nielsen method of calculating out-of-home viewing, which has increased the measurement from 65 percent of the country to the contiguous 48 American states.
The next non-blowout in a Super Bowl will possibly blow away the 2025 figure. The audience peaked in the second quarter, at 137.7 million. If the game had been close in the second half, the final average surely would have been north of 130 million.
We’ll still continue to be perplexed by what the other 200 million U.S. residents are doing instead of watching the Super Bowl. At a time when the league seems to be obsessed with expanding its international footprint, there’s still plenty of juice to be squeezed from the domestic orange.
