Over the weekend, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers claimed victory over the Kansas City Chiefs during the 55th annual Super Bowl game. While many tuned in for the big game and The Weeknd's snazzy halftime show performance, this year's Super Bowl game ratings hit a 14-year low, with nearly 20 million fewer people tuning in to the big game this year compared to last years.
After a delay in the release of Nielsen figures that prompted many industry observers to speculate this year's viewership numbers would fall short of last year's events, they very much did. According to Eric Fisher of SportsBusiness Group, the total audience (including out-of-home viewers and all streaming services) averaged just 96.4 million, compared to 113 million from the year before.
The comparably low figure comes from one cold, hard truth: people did not like the game. Many dedicated football fans tuned in to the game because it's the Super Bowl, and, as he did last year, hoped to see Patrick Mahomes erase big game deficits quickly. When the latter didn't happen, casual viewers simply moved on to something else, especially after the first half and after the halftime performance.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has also made the bleak TV performance of the game especially confusing since most people are stuck at home anyways.
On the flip side, LV was the most-live-streamed Super Bowl in history, averaging 5.7 million views per minute. Additionally, the game saw a higher TV rating in Brady's old home Boston than Tampa, with 57% of homes in the New England city turning into the event, while Tampa drew about 52%.
Why do you think the game unperformed so much? Sound off in the comments.
[via]