Fox announced that Super Bowl LIX between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs drew a record-breaking 126 million viewers.
This record marks the second straight season in which the Super Bowl viewership reached an all-time high, with the 2024 Super Bowl between the Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers drawing 123.7 million, according to Austin Karp of the Sports Business Journal.
BREAKING: even with a blowout, Fox set a Super Bowl viewership record of 126 million viewers for the Eagles-Chiefs matchup (English+Spanish and digital). Passes record of 123.7 million set last year for Chiefs-49ers
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) February 11, 2025
Viewership in Super Bowl LIX peaked at an astounding 135.7 million viewers during the second quarter, which comes as no surprise due to the Eagles blowing out the Chiefs en route to a 40-22 victory, per NFL.com.
Super Bowl LIX became the third-straight game to reach over 100 million viewers following a stretch of four games in five years that failed to reach triple digits.
This increase in viewership can also be partially attributed to a change in how it is counted. Nielsen now measures out-of-home viewers for all continental U.S. states, per The NFL.
These numbers also include information from Smart TV and streaming.
Last year, Nielsen measured the top 44 media markets, accounting only for 65% of the country.
This dominant performance comes following the NFL’s disappointing regular season and playoffs — Viewership in each of these portions of the season declined compared to last year.
The average viewership during the regular season declined by 2% to 17.5 million, though it was also the sixth-highest mark in league history, dating back to 1995, per NFL.com.
NFL playoff viewership also declined 9% from last season, with averages hitting 35.2 million during the three rounds leading into the Super Bowl.
However, the remarkable numbers from the Super Bowl prove that the NFL continues to be the most intriguing sports league in the United States.
The NFL is likely to stay in the headlines over the coming weeks. The league will enter the free agency period of the offseason on March 12, and the NFL Draft is scheduled to begin on April 24.