Big Numbers For NFL Draft, Bigger Numbers For Super Bowl LVII (And Rihanna)
Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 08:53PM By Barry Janoff
May 2, 2023: When it comes to the NFL, a whole lot is never enough.
The league today shared broadcast figures for last week’s NFL Draft, and also revealed updated broadcast figures for Super Bowl LVII in February — and both show that previously realized numbers were actually underestimated.
Even Rihanna came out better in the deal.
Super Bowl LVII in State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ on Fox Feb. 12 is now being called “the most-watched U.S.-based telecast of all time,” according to the new data.
Updated numbers show the Kansas City Chiefs' 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles drew an average of 115.1 million viewers across all platforms, nearly 2 million more than the previous figure.
In February, the NFL and Fox said that Kansas City win had an average viewership of 113 million.
Numbers for the Apple Music Halftime Show with Rihanna were also revised, from 118.7 million to 121 million.
The updated numbers now show that Super Bowl LVII topped the previous record when 114.4 million people watched the New England Patriots defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX (2015), also played in State Farm Stadium, Glendale, on NBC.
Fox said the new Super Bowl LVII figure includes people who watched the game on the Fox or Fox Deportes TV networks, or streamed the game on Fox digital properties or NFL+.
“This revision is the product of a thorough review by Nielsen that revealed irregularities in the encoding that enables Nielsen’s measurement of TV viewing as well as issues with the out-of-home measurement of Super Bowl LVII,” Fox Sports posted to its social media platform.
The irregularity initially was identified by the NFL — the league noticed an abnormally high Super Bowl Sunday audience for the NFL Network, which was apparently getting credit for some of Fox’s viewers, according to The Los Angeles Times.
NFL Network was credited with more than one million viewers during the game at a time when their usual number is 80,000. A second review found errors with out-of-home measurement, according to AP Sports.
“Fox Sports is proud to have presented the most-watched Super Bowl and most-watched TV show of all time,” the network said in a statement. “We appreciate Nielsen’s commitment to producing the most accurate viewership figure possible.”
The 2023 Draft in Kansas City April 27-29 had a total unduplicated audience in the U.S. of 54.4 million viewers for the three-day event, according to the NFL.
Overall, the 2023 NFL Draft was seen by an average audience of six million viewers (TV+Digital) across ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and digital channels – up +12% vs. 2022 (5.3 million).
Each day of the 2023 NFL Draft was up year-over-year in average audience (TV+Digital) compared to 2022.
The Kansas City Chiefs said more than 312,000 people attended the three-day NFL Draft in Kansas City.
That would be second all-time to the more than 600,000 who attended the 2019 Draft in Nashville.
The NFL said Rd. 1 coverage of the 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City was seen by an average audience of 11.4 million viewers (TV+Digital) April 27 across ESPN, NFL Network, ABC, ESPN Deportes and digital channels — up +11% vs. Rd. 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft (10.3M).
Coverage of Rd. 1 had a total unduplicated audience of 34.2M viewers — up +2% vs. 2022 (32.8M).
The 2024 NFL Draft is in Detroit.
Back to Home Page