Super Bowl LIII between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams was the most streamed Super Bowl ever according to data released by CBS. Approximately 7.5 million devices were used to stream the game, up 20 percent from last year’s title game.
Streaming viewers consumed more than 560 million total minutes of live game coverage during the Patriots’ 13-3, a 19 percent increase from last year, according to CBS. That increase came in spite of an uneventful game and the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever.
The 2018 Super Bowl was only made available to subscribers through connected devices, but this year CBS streamed the game for free without cable authentication on devices such as Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, and Chromecast. The live stream was available unauthenticated on CBSSports.com, the CBS Sports app, NFL.com and the NFL app, and Verizon Media mobile properties (including Yahoo Sports, Yahoo, AOL, AOL Sports and Tumblr). The game also was available to stream live via the CBS All Access subscription service and for authenticated users on ESPN Deportes digital properties.
While the streaming results may seem promising for CBS, the network’s TV ratings for Super Bowl LIII dipped to 98.2 million U.S. viewers, coming in as the lowest-viewed Super Bowl on television since 2008 according to Nielsen historical data. CBS reported its total viewership figure—accounting for both online and television viewers—to be 100.7 million, which would be the Super Bowl’s lowest since 2009. The 2015 Super Bowl was watched by a record-setting 114.4 million TV viewers, but TV ratings have dropped consecutively in the four Super Bowls since.
SportTechie Takeaway
Last year’s high-scoring Super Bowl, in which the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Patriots, attracted 103.4 million viewers on NBC. The lack of exciting plays and excess of punts surely did not help this year’s Super Bowl ratings, and the halftime show from Adam Levine was poorly received.
But this season the NFL planned a new digital distribution strategy that focused on reach by maximizing access to streaming. Any silver lining from Sunday’s game for the NFL might be focused on the success in boosting the number of online viewers.