The Kansas City Chiefs victory over the San Francisco 49ers was the most-watched Super Bowl ever on Sky Sports, with the channel recording a 49 per cent increase on last year’s figures.
An average of 514,000 viewers tuned in to watch Super Bowl LVIII from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, as Patrick Mahomes once again led Kansas City back from a double-digit deficit to win in overtime to claim his third Vince Lombardi Trophy in five years.
The game, which was the longest Super Bowl in history, was the most-watched NFL game ever on Sky. It beat the previous record of an average of 415,000 viewers for last season’s divisional round match, a 27-10 victory for the Cincinnati Bengals over the Buffalo Bills.
Sky Sports’ previous high for a Super Bowl was last year, which saw the Chiefs beating the Philadelphia Eagles in Arizona in front of an audience of 344,000.
Viewership peaked at 761,000 on Sky. It was the channel’s highest NFL audience on record, with a 35 per cent increase than the previous highest peak of 563,000 – also the Bills v Bengals game.
Kansas City claimed back-to-back Super Bowls after edging out the San Francisco 49ers
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid celebrates after winning his third Super Bowl with the team
Taylor Swift had raced back from Japan for the game to cheer on her boyfriend and Chiefs tightend Travis Kelce
And as Usher was joined by Alicia Keys, will.i.am, Ludacris, H.E.R., Lil Jon and Jermaine Dupri as he performed his 13-minute half-time show, the Super Bowl reached 935,000 viewers on Sky this year – up 63 per cent on last year (574,000).
The metric is measured by the total number of people who watched some of the Super Bowl, which is based on 10 minutes of continuous viewing.
With Travis Kelce and girlfriend Taylor Swift capturing the zeitgeist, there were 100,000 more female viewers this year (up 93 per cent).
Research ahead of the Super Bowl by streaming service NOW found that over half (54 per cent) of British Taylor Swift fans planned on staying up to watch.
‘The figures are testament to the continual growth of the NFL in the UK & Ireland, and we’re extremely proud to play a role in helping its expansion into new audiences. It’s been a brilliant season with new faces and a new studio added to our coverage, and the Super Bowl itself was a fitting end,’ said Bryan Henderson, Director of NFL Sky Sports.
Sky first broadcast the NFL in 1995 and it has live rights to broadcast every game since 2015. It launched Sky Sports NFL in 2020.
According to television rating expert Liam Hamilton, almost 700,000 people watched the game on ITV1 between 10.45pm and 2am, the cut-off time for end of day ratings measurement.
The channel broadcast its first Super Bowl last year after landing a three-year deal to show the Super Bowl after seven years on the BBC. ITV were asked to comment.
‘We are thrilled to see the number of people across the UK that watched Super Bowl LVIII on Sky Sports, ITV and NFL Game Pass on DAZN,’ said NFL UK General Manager, Henry Hodgson.
‘The viewership, combined with the social engagement through Super Bowl week, is a testament to the growth of the NFL in the UK, particularly among the youth demographic that we’ve targeted this season.’
Usher performed a special rendition of his hit ‘My Boo’ with New York City songstress Alicia Keys to cheers
Kelce, now a three-time Super Bowl winner, and Swift shared a kiss after the dramatic victory
In 2022, a record audience of 1.3million tuned in on BBC1 to see Super Bowl LVI kick off at 11.30pm, beating its previous high of 1.2m from 2021.
Sunday’s game was the longest Super Bowl in history and was only the second to go to overtime.
In 2017 the New England Patriots roared back from 28-3 down in the third quarter to win 34-28 in overtime against the Atlanta Falcons.
Across the pond, the Chiefs win was the most-watched Super Bowl ever, with 123m people tuning in across America.
According to media analysts Nielsen, of the top 25 broadcasts in US television history 19 are Super Bowls. Heading the list is the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, which was watched by over 150m people.
2022’s World Cup final between Argentina and France is estimated to have reached a global audience of 1.5 billion.
The most-watched programme in UK history is the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany, which attracted 32.3 million viewers.
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