NEW ORLEANS—The number of viewers of Sunday’s Super Bowl across Fox, Fox Deportes, Tubi, Telemundo and NFL Digital Properties averaged 126 million and peaked in the second quarter at 135.7 million—a record for the game, according to a projected viewer tally from Fox Sports.
The number of those streaming the game via Tubi and NFL digital properties also set a record, reaching 14.5 million. Tubi alone drew 13.6 million.
The broadcaster’s tally is a projection. Nielsen is expected to release its ratings and viewership data today.
AdImpact, drawing on its advanced TV panel monitoring of 23 million smart TVs, reported peak viewership reached 152.4 million at 8:16 p.m. EST, just before halftime. Average viewership for the game was 137.7 million, breaking previous records, it said.
Linear viewing, including those watching via a set-top box, direct cable connection or TV antenna accounted for 51% of the total. Ten percent of the linear audience watched Fox Deportes. Streaming viewers accounted for 49%—up from 41.5% in 2024. Tubi accounted for 18.7% of the stream audience, YouTube and YouTube TV, 12.8% and other streaming services 17.4%, it said.
Samba TV also reported its findings, showing a slight drop-off in U.S. TV households watching compared to 2024.
It reported:
- 37.1 million U.S. households watched the Super Bowl—5% lower than last year’s game but higher than 2022 and 2023 by 1% to 2%.
- 28.8 million households watched Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show performance, 4% fewer than watched Usher’s 2024 halftime performance.
- 311,000 households tuned in to just watch the halftime show, down 8% from last year’s halftime performance.
- This year’s halftime show marked the viewership high point. Total viewership fell to 70% by the end of the game. In 2024, the game ended with 89% of peak viewership.
- The Super Bowl audience skewed towards white households (up 5% compared to the U.S. overall). However, among households that only watched the halftime show, Black households were 25% more likely to watch. For the game itself, Black households under-indexed by 6%.
- Across the top 25 DMAs—with Kansas City included—viewership over-indexed by the highest margin, along with Pittsburgh (+25%), Boston (+14%) and Minneapolis (+13%). Kansas City and Philadelphia over-indexed by +11% and +9%, respectively.
USA Today’s Ad Meter ranked the top 57 Super Bowl commercials. Budweiser’s “First Delivery,” topped the list, followed by Lay’s “The Little Farmer” and “Michelob ULTRA’s “The ULTRA Hustle.”
