For the second year in succession, more people than ever before watched the NFL championship game, with an average of 126 million viewers tuning in to watch the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.

According to data from Nielsen, Fox and the NFL itself, a record number of people followed the action live on Fox, Fox Deportes, Tubi, Telemundo and NFL digital properties.

Super Bowl breaks audience record for second successive year

The figure represents a 2% increase from Super Bowl LVIII. 12 months ago, an average audience of 123.7 million saw the Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas (CBS, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, CBS Sports and the same NFL digital properties). That had been the previous viewership record.

This year’s peak audience came during the second quarter of the game, with an average of 135.7 million viewers between 8:00 and 8:15 p.m. ET.

Did the fact the Eagles were 24-0 up at halftime and cruising to victory convince some people to turn off at that point? Or were some not overly excited about Kendrick Lamar’s Halftime Show? We’ll likely never know.

Super Bowl streaming more popular than ever

Intriguingly, more detailed statistics highlight the ever-increasing tendency to stream sports rather than watching on television. Of the 126 million, Tubi and NFL digital properties accounting for 14.5 million viewers, with the former providing 13.6 million of those, a record high.

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