Data: Over 25% of US homes watched Super Bowl LVI
February 15, 2022
Samba TV, the global provider of omniscreen advertising and analytics, has released US linear television and streaming viewership data from the February 13th LA Rams vs Cincinnati Bengals Super Bowl.
The viewership data from Samba TV’s device footprint found that this year’s championship game scored significant viewership increases from 2021.
Some 36 million US households, representing more than 1 in 4 US homes, watched the Super Bowl this year. This year’s game attracted a significant audience uptick for the NFL, with Super Bowl LVI drawing in viewership from 12 per cent more households than last year’s game.
“In Q4 of 2021, every one of the top five television programmes was an NFL game, and that momentum helped linear TV notch its first ratings increase since 2020,” said Cole Strain, Head of Measurement for Samba TV. “We saw that same momentum and excitement for the NFL carry over to this year’s match-up between the Rams and the Bengals with the NFL continuing its ratings winning streak gaining Super Bowl viewership year over year by 12 per cent, reaching 36 million households.”
The half-time show was also a big audience draw this year smashing 2021’s viewership numbers. 29 million US households, an increase of 19 per cent year-over-year, viewed the half-time performances.
“The power-house performances from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent rocked the ratings on Sunday night, shattering last year’s halftime audience drawing in millions of more viewers across both linear television and streaming,” said Strain.
The half-time show not only entertained fans who were watching the game between the halfs, it also drew in a sizable audience that came just for the music. The number of households that tuned in just to watch the half-time show (and then tuned out before the 3rd quarter) were up 60 per cent from 2021. The half-time show also attracted a large audience that then stayed for the second half helping to boost overall ratings for the Super Bowl. 1.2 million households began watching the Super Bowl during the half-time show and stayed to watch the second half.
“The half-time hype drew in millions of new viewers who came to watch the performances but who also stayed for the second half,” said Strain. “The number of households who started watching during the half-time and stayed for the second half kickoff were up 41 per cent year over year. No matter how you look at it, the half-time show was a big winner for the NFL.”
Cincinnati was the second-highest audience market in the US in terms of viewership over-indexing the national average. Cincinnati viewers over-indexed by 13 per cent (Boston was #1 at 15 per cent). Although the Rams played in their hometown for the game, Los Angeles was only the #12 highest indexing DMA of the top 25 DMAs plus Cincinnati, with a very slight 1 per cent over-index of the national average. “When it comes to the match-up between local fans, Cincinnati die-hards out-viewed Angelinos significantly on Sunday night,” said Strain.
“From the halftime show viewership that increased 19 per cent to the game itself which was watched in more than 1 in 4 homes in America, this year’s Super Bowl scored big for advertisers, the NFL and for NBC,” concluded Strain.