The NFL had declining ratings as recently as the 2017 season, but experienced a nice uptick in them this past season, with solid numbers across the board, for the most part. But we are now through the Patriots and Rams playing in what might have been the worst Super Bowl of all time, so how did THAT do in the ratings?
Surprise, the Patriots’ boring Super Bowl 53 win was a TV ratings dud
It was a stinker of a football game. It was also a (relative) stinker in the ratings.
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
Not well at all.
There’s a few reasons for that decline. For one, traditional television viewership is on a steady downward trend and has been for a long time. There’s also the fact that an increasingly large group of fans are watching through streaming services, and CBS doesn’t see that reflected in its Nielsen rating.
It didn’t help either that there’s plenty of fatigue that comes with the Patriots playing in their third consecutive Super Bowl, their fourth in five years, and their ninth in the last 18 years. On the other side are the Rams, who helped get the LA market to tune in, but are still trying to find their footing in a new city.
The Rams got in with a controversial win over the Saints in the NFC Championship, so the city of New Orleans through a giant party instead of watching. That hurt the ratings too.
Last year’s game drew 103.4 million viewers, the 10th-most-watched program in American history, but also made it the least-watched Super Bowl since 2009. This year’s Super Bowl now owns that title.
But regardless of what’s going on around the league, we’re still talking about a very healthy television and streaming presence. The Super Bowl remains one of the biggest spectacles across all sports.
Jeez, this one was a stinker, though. The game featured some truly impressive defensive play from both the Rams and the Patriots, but there were so few big plays. Defensive games can be fun, but Sunday’s showdown was pretty dang abysmal from a viewing enjoyment perspective (I’m sure Patriots fans would disagree, of course).
Overnight TV ratings are not necessarily the final number, as they are generally measuring a specific selection of markets that accounts for around two-thirds of the country’s general audience. Streaming numbers will also trickle in and be a factor as well.
The highest-rated Super Bowl featured the Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 49. That game finished with a 47.5 rating and an average of 114.4 million viewers. Those numbers might not be touched any time soon.
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