Thirteen Years of Super Bowl Streaming Viewership Stats, 2012-2024

Dan Rayburn | Thursday February 22, 2024 | 09:16 AM | Comments (0)

2024 marks the thirteenth year of broadcast networks streaming the Super Bowl. While many viewership numbers are compared to one another each year, there are a lot of variables between the games. In the early years, broadcast networks used the metric of simultaneous streams or current streams when reporting numbers, but as an industry, we have since switched over to the metric of AMA (Average Minute Audience). In addition, when viewership numbers are reported, no broadcast network reports any detailed breakout on how they define a viewer or how many unique viewers they have. Some viewership numbers report co-viewing numbers, while others don’t.

We also don’t know what percentage of users watch on a TV versus mobile, the average viewing time per user, the average bitrate streamed, or how many users watched on a particular platform since the numbers reported are across all digital platforms that offer the stream. For example, the app and website of the broadcast network, the NFL app and all NFL digital properties. For thirteen years of streaming the Super Bowl across three broadcast networks, FOX, CBS, and NBC, we have no detailed viewership info on what transpires during the live stream.

Over the years, I have seen Super Bowl streaming numbers misreported with numbers that have no source to them and don’t match the numbers put out each year by the broadcast networks. For example, Statista produced a chart saying streaming viewership for the 2023 Super Bowl was 21.8 million, which is inaccurate. The 21.8 million number refers to Out Of Home (OOH) viewers who watched the Super Bowl LVI in bars, restaurants, and other venues, including viewing in other people’s homes. To make it easy to get the numbers right, I have compiled a chart with viewership stats from 2013-2024 of all the numbers reported by the broadcast networks. I have excluded the first year the Super Bowl was streamed, in 2012, since the metrics released by CBS Sports are not comparable to any other year based on their methodology. All the numbers I highlight come directly from the broadcast networks’ press releases, except 2024.

  • 2024: This is the only year the broadcast network did not break out streaming media viewership numbers for the Super Bowl. However, based on my sources, I can report that Paramount+ had an AMA of 8.5 million. When you add viewership numbers from the vMVPDs, the AMA number totaled 11.7 million viewers. While Paramount did not put out these specific numbers, you can do the math from this post they published on LinkedIn and from talking to those involved.
  • 2023: FOX Sports says Super Bowl LVII delivered an average of 7 million simultaneous streams, up +18% over the 2022 Super Bowl. The 7 million simultaneous streams were across the FOX Sports app, FOX.com, the FOX NOW app, and NFL digital properties, including the NFL mobile app, the NFL Fantasy mobile app, NFL.com, the NFL connected TV app, and NFL+ for subscribers. The number does not take into account co-viewing from connected devices, and it should be noted that the 2022 viewership metric used by NBC Sports was AMA and not simultaneous streams.
  • 2022: NBC Sports said the streaming average minute audience (AMA) for Super Bowl LVI was 6 million across Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms, NFL Digital platforms, Rams and Bengals mobile properties, and Yahoo Sports mobile properties. NBC Sports says the 6 million number is “according to the traditional counting of streaming, which is the comparable metric to last year’s (2021) 5.7 million”. The delivery rises to 11.2 million AMA viewers, which takes into account “co-viewing from connected devices.”
  • 2021: CBS Sports said the streaming average minute audience (AMA) for Super Bowl LV was 5.7 million viewers. The live stream was available unauthenticated on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports app across devices, ESPN Deportes digital properties across devices, NFL digital properties across devices, and on mobile via Buccaneers, Chiefs, Yahoo Sports and other Verizon Media mobile properties. The game was also available to stream live via the CBS All Access subscription service and for authenticated users on CBS digital properties.
  • 2020: FOX Sports said Super Bowl LIV delivered a streaming average minute audience (AMA) of 3.4 million, up 30% over 2019 (2.6 million) and up 103% over Fox’s last Super Bowl stream in 2017 (1.7 million). Fox’s streaming viewership was measured across FOXSports.com, the FOX Sports app, FOXDeportes.com, the FOX Deportes app, the FOX NOW app, NFL digital properties including the NFL app, the NFL Fantasy mobile app, NFL.com, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers mobile properties and Verizon Media mobile properties, including the Yahoo Sports mobile app.
  • 2019: CBS Sports said the broadcaster’s airing of Super Bowl LIII drew an average streaming audience (note it does not say AMA) of 2.6 million during the game window, an increase of 31% over the streaming audience for the previous year’s game. The live stream was available unauthenticated across CBSSports.com, the CBS Sports app, NFL.com, the NFL app, and Verizon mobile properties — including Yahoo Sports, Yahoo, AOL, AOL Sports, and Tumblr. It was also available on CBS’s subscription streaming service, CBS All Access.
  • 2018: NBC Sports said Super Bowl LII had a streaming average minute audience (AMA) of 2.02 million and peaked at 3.1 million concurrent streams. The live stream was available on the NBC Sports app, NBCSports.com, NBC.com, TV Everywhere, the En Vivo app, NFL.com, the NFL Mobile app from Verizon, the Yahoo Sports app, and go90.
  • 2017: FOX Sports said Super Bowl LI had a streaming average minute audience of 1.72 million, up 23% over 2016 (1.4 million) and up 224% over FOX’s last Super Bowl stream in 2014 (530,523). The live stream was carried on FOXSportsGO.com, the Fox Sports GO app, the NFL app, as well as NFL Mobile and go90 for Verizon customers
  • 2016: CBS Sports said Super Bowl L had a streaming average minute audience (AMA) of 1.4 million, with 4 million unique viewers, and an average viewing time of 101 minutes. CBS streamed the game on its website, the CBS Sports app, and the NFL smartphone app, but only on Verizon.
  • 2015: NBC Sports said Super Bowl XLIX reported a streaming average minute audience of 800,000, with viewers peaking at 1.3 million and engagement of 84.2 minutes per viewer. NBC Sports Digital didn’t have NFL mobile streaming rights, so the live stream numbers are via NBC Sports Live Extra to desktops and tablets only.
  • 2014: FOX said Super Bowl XLVIII had a streaming average minute audience of 528,000 viewers and peak concurrent viewership of 1.1 million, with users spending an average of 47.8 minutes watching the stream.
  • 2013: CBS Sports said Super Bowl XLVII had a streaming average minute audience of 508,000 with an average viewing time of 38 minutes. The game was streamed on CBSSports.com, NFL.com, and Verizon on mobile. Note that the ratings figures for TV did not include 30 minutes when there was a partial power outage in the Superdome, but that was not excluded from streaming numbers.
  • 2012: NBC Sports said Super Bowl XLVI “attracted” a total of 2.1 million “unique users” with an average viewing time of 39 minutes. The live game stream was available on NBCSports.com, NFL.com, NFL Mobile, and Verizon.

I got all the numbers from the broadcast network’s press releases, but if you see an error, please let me know.

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