Super Bowl TV Viewership Hits Lowest Since 2007

TV viewership for the Super Bowl has diminished, posting its lowest numbers since 2007 according to official data by Nielsen.

Nielsen Sees TV Viewership Dip During Super Bowl LV

The Super Bowl is in trouble. With audiences receding from the TV sets this is an early warning sign for the Big Game, as Nielsen reported that just 91.6 million viewers had tuned in to watch the main event or the lowest TV audience turnout since 2007.

To add insult to injury, the Super Bowl has not been able to draw triple-digits for the past three years, making the NFL a less attractive destination for multi-million ad segments. The heydays of the league seem to be over and a transition period to the future has begun.

Last year, Fox managed to fetch 99.9 million viewers with the game in 2019 drawing 98.5 million. Either way, the Super Bowl’s ratings have been dropping, even if by a few millions.

One possible explanation is the lack of mishaps throughout the opening ceremony, other than a man running out in the field in the nuddy and taking officials for a brief chase across the Touch Down line.

Yet, Super Bowl LV enjoyed a healthy interest because of the rivalry between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, with Brady inking a seventh Super Bowl victory to his name before retiring. The issue, though, has hardly to do with just how popular the Super Bowl is.

TV Viewership Down, Gambling Companies Win

Rather, Nielsen stipulates that viewership data across all main broadcasts, including CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox have dropped to just 16.9 million, down from 21.1 million a night before that. Broadcasters though will have to prepare for tougher times ahead, because they would not be able to sell advertising spots quite as expensively as this year.

While TV audiences may not have been as keen and broadcasters facing a tough dilemma, interest in Super Bowl on the sports gambling front has not been modest. If anything gambling companies have been the real winners here.

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins confirmed a significant spike in betting activity just days ahead of Sunday’s game and GAN reported an all-time transactions record on game day.