Unlike many other sports championship TV viewerships which have declined over time, Super Bowl TV viewership has not only held up, but after a generation of fairly flat viewership, began growing again in the last seven years or so.
Last year's Super Bowl XLVI had the highest average viewership (111.3 million) of any US TV telecast in history.
What's your guess for this year's Super Bowl XLVII viewership?
If you'd like to guess the viewership for Elementary, which follows the Super Bowl, click here.
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Complete Super Bowl TV Ratings:
| Game | Date | Net | rating | Share | $/30 Sec. Ad | Homes (000) | Viewers (000) | NFC Champion | AFC Champion |
| XLVI | Feb 5 2012* | NBC | 47.0 | 71 | 111,346 | New York Giants | New England | ||
| XLV | Feb 7 2011* | FOX | 46.0 | 69 | 111,010 | Green Bay | Pittsburgh | ||
| XLIV | Feb 7 2010* | CBS | 45.0 | 68 | $2,800,000 | 51,728 | 106,476 | New Orleans | Indianapolis |
| XLIII | Feb 1 2009* | NBC | 42.0 | 64 | $3,000,000 | 48,139 | 98,732 | Arizona | Pittsburgh |
| XLII | Feb 3 2008* | FOX | 43.1 | 65 | $2,699,963 | 48,665 | 97,448 | New York Giants | New England |
| XLI | Feb 4 2007* | CBS | 42.6 | 64 | $2,385,365 | 47,505 | 93,184 | Chicago | Indianapolis |
| XL | Feb 5 2006* | ABC | 41.6 | 62 | $2,500,000 | 45,867 | 90,745 | Seattle | Pittsburgh |
| XXXIX | Feb 6 2005 | FOX | 41.1 | 62 | $2,400,000 | 45,081 | 86,072 | Philadelphia | New England |
| XXXVIII | Feb 1 2004 | CBS | 41.4 | 63 | $2,302,200 | 44,908 | 89,795 | Carolina | New England |
| XXXVII | Jan 26 2003 | ABC | 40.7 | 61 | $2,200,000 | 43,433 | 88,637 | Tampa Bay | Oakland |
| XXXVI | Feb 3 2002 | FOX | 40.4 | 61 | $2,200,000 | 42,664 | 86,801 | St. Louis | New England |
| XXXV | Jan 28 2001 | CBS | 40.4 | 61 | $2,200,000 | 41,270 | 84,335 | NY Giants | Baltimore |
| XXXIV | Jan 30 2000 | ABC | 43.3 | 63 | $2,100,000 | 43,618 | 88,465 | St. Louis | Tennessee |
| XXXIII | Jan 31 1999 | FOX | 40.2 | 61 | $1,600,000 | 39,992 | 83,720 | Atlanta | Denver |
| XXXII | Jan 25 1998 | NBC | 44.5 | 67 | $1,291,100 | 43,630 | 90,000 | Green Bay | Denver |
| XXXI | Jan 26 1997 | FOX | 43.3 | 65 | $1,200,000 | 42,000 | 87,870 | Green Bay | New England |
| XXX | Jan 28 1996 | NBC | 46 | 68 | $1,085,000 | 44,145 | 94,080 | Dallas | Pittsburgh |
| XXIX | Jan 29 1995 | ABC | 41.3 | 62 | $1,150,000 | 39,400 | 83,420 | San Francisco | San Diego |
| XXVIII | Jan 30 1994 | NBC | 45.5 | 66 | $900,000 | 42,860 | 90,000 | Dallas | Buffalo |
| XXVII | Jan 31 1993 | NBC | 45.1 | 66 | $850,000 | 41,990 | 90,990 | Dallas | Buffalo |
| XXVI | Jan 26 1992 | CBS | 40.3 | 61 | $850,000 | 37,120 | 79,590 | Washington | Buffalo |
| XXV | Jan 27 1991 | ABC | 41.9 | 63 | $800,000 | 39,010 | 79,510 | NY Giants | Buffalo |
| XXIV | Jan 28 1990 | CBS | 39 | 63 | $700,400 | 35,920 | 73,852 | San Francisco | Denver |
| XXIII | Jan 22 1989 | NBC | 43.5 | 68 | $675,000 | 39,320 | 81,590 | San Francisco | Cincinnati |
| XXII | Jan 31 1988 | ABC | 41.9 | 62 | $645,000 | 37,120 | 80,140 | Washington | Denver |
| XXI | Jan 25 1987 | CBS | 45.8 | 66 | $600,000 | 40,030 | 87,190 | NY Giants | Denver |
| XX | Jan 26 1986 | NBC | 48.3 | 70 | $550,000 | 41,490 | 92,570 | Chicago | New England |
| XIX | Jan 20 1985 | ABC | 46.4 | 63 | $525,000 | 39,390 | 85,530 | San Francisco | Miami |
| XVIII | Jan 22 1984 | CBS | 46.4 | 71 | $368,200 | 38,880 | 77,620 | Washington | LA Raiders |
| XVII | Jan 30 1983 | NBC | 48.6 | 69 | $400,000 | 40,480 | 81,770 | Washington | Miami |
| XVI | Jan 24 1982 | CBS | 49.1 | 73 | $324,300 | 40,020 | 85,240 | San Francisco | Cincinnati |
| XV | Jan 25 1981 | NBC | 44.4 | 63 | $275,000 | 34,540 | 68,290 | Philadelphia | Oakland |
| XIV | Jan 20 1980 | CBS | 46.3 | 67 | $222,000 | 35,330 | 76,240 | LA Rams | Pittsburgh |
| XIII | Jan 21 1979 | NBC | 47.1 | 74 | $185,000 | 35,090 | 74,740 | Dallas | Pittsburgh |
| XII | Jan 15 1978 | CBS | 47.2 | 67 | $162,300 | 34,410 | 78,940 | Dallas | Denver |
| XI | Jan 09 1977 | NBC | 44.4 | 73 | $125,000 | 31,610 | 62,050 | Minnesota | Oakland |
| X | Jan 18 1976 | CBS | 42.3 | 78 | $110,000 | 29,440 | 57,710 | Dallas | Pittsburgh |
| IX | Jan 12 1975 | NBC | 42.4 | 72 | $107,000 | 29,040 | 56,050 | Minnesota | Pittsburgh |
| VIII | Jan 13 1974 | CBS | 41.6 | 73 | $103,500 | 27,540 | 51,700 | Minnesota | Miami |
| VII | Jan 14 1973 | NBC | 42.7 | 72 | $88,100 | 27,670 | 53,320 | Washington | Miami |
| VI | Jan 16 1972 | CBS | 44.2 | 74 | $86,100 | 27,450 | 56,640 | Dallas | Miami |
| V | Jan 17 1971 | NBC | 39.9 | 75 | $72,500 | 23,980 | 46,040 | Dallas | Baltimore |
| IV | Jan 11 1970 | CBS | 39.4 | 69 | $78,200 | 23,050 | 44,270 | Minnesota | Kansas City |
| III | Jan 12 1969 | NBC | 36 | 70 | $55,000 | 20,520 | 41,660 | Baltimore | NY Jets |
| II | Jan 14 1968 | CBS | 36.8 | 68 | $54,500 | 20,610 | 39,120 | Green Bay | Oakland |
| I | Jan 15 1967 | CBS | 22.6 | 43 | $42,500 | 12,410 | 26,750 | Green Bay | Kansas City |
| I | Jan 15 1967 | NBC | 18.5 | 36 | $37,500 | 10,160 | 24,430 | Green Bay | Kansas City |
2006-12 Data is Live+Same Day, all other years are Live viewing.
Ad expenditure data from Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
Note: Super Bowl 1 aired on both CBS & NBC.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2013 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Slightly lower this year. I imagine there will be *slightly* fewer people interested in a San Fransisco vs. Baltimore matchup than, for example, last year’s New York vs New England game.
107.5 million viewers.
Hope Super Bowl will boost all CBS shows at least for a week. espessaly my favorite POI.
CBS should heavy and properly advertising during super bowl and grammys POI. I mean abc advertise like crazy scandal, once and even nashvile. fox the same with so many promos for the following. And no one of these is even close hit like POI is. But i see their promos everywhere. CBS has a bigger hot hit drama but too litle promos. Also we have major episode on 21-th february – Jonathan Nolan debut as director and Sarah Shahi series debut. Sarah Shahi role sound like future POI spin-off so CBS have a lot in stake here.(more money and one more drama hit) POI is hot, new, young and fresh good chance for successful spin-off.
Agreed. Last year was the perfect situation for record viewership: two teams from top-ten markets, and neither team led by double digits at any time. This year we got teams from smaller markets, and both conference championship games had three-score margins at some point, leading me to believe it won’t be as close as last year. So I also believe SB47 will fall short of 46, with my over/under at about 106 million.
Last year was actually 111,346,000.
@Petar Ivanov
WTF?
To be honest, I don’t even know who is playing this year. Last year it was crazy with the Giants v the Patriots. Those are two of the biggest markets and clearly, we were all sitting there waiting to know if Eli or Brady would come out on top. Eli won and it was a feel good time for New York (my state!) and plus Cruz got a lot of people hyped with his media attention.
So I say no, it will be slightly lower from last year. No one I can think of worth watching.
ABC hasn’t aired the Super Bowl since 2006 why is that?
Some of you guys are talking teams but I’m starting to think teams don’t matter really don’t matter that much. People are watching the Super Bowl regardless. NY vs. NE was barely more than Green Bay and Pittsburgh and that game was a blowout.
This game has some storylines playing into it with the Harbaugh brothers and Ray Lewis’ last game.
I’m not sure if the game will increase or decrease just b/c the Super Bowl has been increasing year after year regardless of the teams playing.
The casual fans just need to know its Super Sunday they don’t need to know whose playing and they’ll tune in and jump on somebody’s bandwagon for 4-5 hours.
@ Match
ABC handed their NFL rights over to their sister network ESPN in 2006. NBC subbed in for them as the third broadcast network to air NFL games. The NFL wants their playoff and championship games only on broadcasters and since ESPN is a cable network they aren’t allowed to air the Super Bowl.
@PETAR
What the heck are you talking about?
THE FOLLOWING did amazing and built on it’s premire without a lead-in that regularly does over 4′s. Please excuse most of the shows you are comparing POI to. I think POI is doing great but put into perspective here NASHVILLE has freakin’ SUBERGATORY as a lead-in NOT THE HIGHEST RATED HOUR OF COMEDY ON TV NOW! NASHVILLE has SUBERGATORY AS A LEAD-IN…Sink in.
No excuses PETAR! You’re show is doing great and gets TONS of promo time. There is no complaining thats needed here other THAN CBS clearly missed the ball here but putting in the GOD AWFUL Elementry over POI of 2BG. Complete idiots!
To winning:
ESPN will probably get a wildcard game starting jan 2015.
@romo, A wild-card game isn’t the Super Bowl, and ESPN will have last “choice” on their matchup.
To max:
But winning said….
“The NFL wants their playoff and championship games only on broadcasters”
A wildcard game is a playoff game so will be on cable not on a broadcaster.
Just want to say, GO 49′ERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 15-minute interval (8-8:15) for last year’s halftime performance drew nearly 116 million; will be interesting to see if that’s topped.
@Bookworm
No one worth watching? You must have never seen Colin Kaepernick play. Game also features the best deep ball thrower in Joe Flacco. Basically it’s the 49ers great offense against Baltimore’s great defense and it should be a great game.
I think the game will do 107 million slightly down from last year.
It should draw around 108,000,000 to 110,000,000 viewers.
Probably not a record, but close.
However, if there is a major snowstorm along the East Coast on Sunday (February 3rd), as some forecasters are suggesting, then the telecast may indeed draw a record viewership if millions on the East Coast are trapped at home.
The Super Bowl will likely set a record for worldwide TV viewing (surpassing the number of people who watched he Opening Ceremonies of last year’s Summer Olympics), but that will be due to both the increasing international interest in American football, and the fact more people around the world have access to TV all the time.
Winning:
Starting next year, NBC will lose one of it’s two wild-card games, but will gain either an AFC or NFC divisional playoff game so the network gets one wild-card game and once divisional playoff game each year.
It is also likely that NBC’s wild-card and divisional playoff games will be played on Sunday nights (but probably starting at 6:35 P.M. EST instead of the regular-season Sunday-night start time of 8:30 EST/EDT) to keep continuity with NBC’s regular-season Sunday-night games.
@Petar Ivanov
I mean abc advertise like crazy scandal, once and even nashvile. fox the same with so many promos for the following. And no one of these is even close hit like POI is.
Actually, both The Following and Once Upon a Time are higher rated than Person of Interest. Person of Interest is averaging a 3.0, whereas The Following is averaging a 3.3 and Once Upon a Time is averaging a 3.1. In addition, Person of Interest has the highest-rated hour of comedy on television as a lead-in, whereas The Following has a decently-rated drama as a lead-in and Once Upon a Time has a very old reality video show as a lead-in.
In what areas are forecasters predicting a major storm Sunday? Nothing in Northeast PA at the moment.