Super Bowl Pulls in Third-Highest Market Rating

A highly anticipated halftime performance from Lady Gaga, followed by the largest point deficit comeback and only overtime game in Super Bowl history drew 111.3 million viewers and 48.8 rating – the third-highest metered rating in the game’s history according to FoxSports. Adding in 600K viewers on Fox Deportes and 1.7 million streams on Fox Sports Go raises the total to 113.6 million. For Fox, the game was the network’s highest metered market rating ever.

The Super Bowl first exceeded the 100 million viewer mark in 2010, and since then there has been steady growth with minor fluctuations, as shown by data in Variety from the past several Super Bowls:

• ■ 2017 – 48.8 overnight rating with a 70 share and 111.3 million viewers (Lady Gaga’s halftime performance generated a 50 rating)
• ■ 2016 – 49 overnight rating with a 73 share and 111.9 million viewers
• ■ 2015 – 49.7 overnight rating and 114.5 million viewers (All-time most watched), spiking to 120.8 million in the fourth quarter as the score tightened.
• ■ 2010 – 106.5 million viewers

It’s important to note that the 3% drop in this year’s rating compared to 2015 is encouraging as NFL ratings over that same period dropped 10%.

At Limelight, we observed a consistent 1Tbps of game streaming delivery for the duration of the event. The top regions for Limelight’s delivery were Chicago, greater NY/New England, Washington DC, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Overall, about 60% of game streaming traffic we delivered in the US was to the East coast.