Super Bowl LV Had The Least TV Viewers In 15 Years
According to NyTimes.com, Super Bowl LV was watched by just 91.6 million people on CBS. This is the lowest number of viewers the Super Bowl has received on a traditional TV broadcast since 2006. Even when all other streaming platforms were counted into the total number of viewers the numbers were still the lowest since 2007 with 96.4 million.
Even with the numbers being significantly lower than recent years the game is still expected to be the most watched TV event of 2021. The 2015 Super Bowl received a peak number of viewers and they have been on the decline since. This season 7% less people tuned in for games than they did last year overall.
Super Bowl LV had everything it needed to be a success, including debatably the two most popular quarterbacks in football. It was also a cold and snowy Sunday, which would typically draw people in to their TVs. It was the game itself that caused the viewers to lose interest. By the end of the third quarter the Buccaneers led the Chiefs 31-9 with little competition and no scoring in the fourth quarter. Considering viewership is measured in the amount of time people stay tuned, the difference in score definitely didn’t help keep people’s attention.
The hype around the game itself was of course affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as well. This year there were 4,000 less media members at the Super Bowl than last year, meaning the event had significantly less coverage than in the past. People were also discouraged from attending Super Bowl parties this year. It seems like many could have just decided to do something else entirely instead of watching the game in their own home