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Television ratings for Super Bowl LII have been released shortly after the Philadelphia Eagles won the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl title, and they were the lowest for a Super Bowl match since 2009, according to Nielsen via Darren Rovell of ESPN.
The Philadelphia Eagles' 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday night averaged of 103.4 million viewers on television, according to Nielsen, the lowest Super Bowl viewership since Super Bowl XLIII (Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals, 98.7 million) in February 2009.
Each of the past eight Super Bowls and the 1983 Finale of M*A*S*H* (106 million viewers) topped Sunday night's average.
The relatively low ratings were despite the intriguing narrative between the Eagles and the New England Patriots. The Eagles entered the contest as the unlikely underdogs, a team that had a backup quarterback leading them to the title game. The Patriots, on the other hand, were the regular grand finale visitors who were also looking for their sixth Super Bowl title in the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era.
That being said, Super Bowl remains as a lucrative television spectacle that few other broadcasts on the medium could match.
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“With an all-time Top 10 audience, the Super Bowl once again proved that it's the most dominant and consistent property on television,” Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC broadcasting and sports, said in a news release.
Moreover, this year’s Super Bowl ratings were higher than in 2005, when the Patriots and the Eagles met in Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Florida.
The viewership this season marked a 20 percent increase from the last time the two teams played in the Super Bowl (XXXIX, 86 million viewers) in February 2005.
