Record viewership: Fox projects 126 million people watched Super Bowl

Using Monday’s early Nielsen numbers, along with streaming data from Tubi and the NFL, the network estimates 126 million people tuned in to the broadcast on Fox, Fox Deportes and Telemundo or streamed the game online as the Philadelphia Eagles routed the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22.

Updated figures are to be released on Tuesday.

This would mark the second consecutive year that the Super Bowl set an all-time viewership record. The Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers averaged 123.7 million viewers last year on CBS, Nickelodeon, Univision and streaming platforms.

According to Fox, the audience peaked at 135.7 million just before halftime.

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Part of the record audience could be attributed to a change in the way viewers are counted. This is the first year Nielsen is measuring out-of-home viewers for all states but Hawaii and Alaska, instead of in just the top 44 media markets.

This will also mark the third year in a row the Super Bowl averaged more than 100 million viewers. Before that, four of the five games from 2018 and 2022 fell below that number because of cord-cutting.

For instance, just 95.2 million people watched the 2021 Super Bowl between Tampa Bay and Kansas City, the game’s lowest TV-only average since 2007.