Despite NBC’s numbers touting the improvement of the NFL playoffs this season, the Super Bowl still fell short of the viewership totals set by last year’s big game.
Last weekend’s matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots averaged 103.4 million viewers, down about 7% from the average 111.3 million that tuned in last year for the Super Bowl on FOX.
According to NBC, viewership peaked at 112.3 million from 10-10:15 p.m. ET during the fourth quarter.
“With an all-time Top 10 audience, the Super Bowl once again proved that it’s the most dominant and consistent property on television,” said Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Broadcasting & Sports, in a statement. “Super Bowl LII delivered for all of our partners, and provided us with the unique opportunity to give America a look ahead at the Olympic Winter Games, which begin live on NBC this Thursday night.”
Even with the decline, NBC’s broadcast last weekend managed to find a spot on the list of the 10 most watched U.S. television programs in history, which are all Super Bowls except for the 1983 series finale of “M.A.S.H.”
The Super Bowl scored a Total Audience Delivery of 106 million viewers across all platforms—NBC, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, NBC.com ‘TV Everywhere,’ Universo, En Vivo app, NFL.com, NFL Mobile from Verizon, the Yahoo Sports app and go90—according to Nielsen’s Fast National data.
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NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl LII earned a 47.4/70 overnight rating/share on NBC (not including digital), according to Nielsen. The game peaked with a 52.2/74 overnight rating in the fourth quarter.
NBC said that overnight rating ranks ninth among all Super Bowls and is the third best of the 19 Super Bowls NBC has televised.