That makes the Kansas City Chiefsâ victory over the Philadelphia Eagles not only 1% bigger than last yearâs Rams-Bengals game, but the third biggest television program of all time. The only telecasts to ever score a larger audience have been two other Super Bowls: the 2015 Patriots-Seahawks game (114.4 million) and the 2017 Patriots-Falcons game (113.7 million).
Super Bowl audience should be 20% higher, NFL says
Nielsen undercounted the number of people who watched the Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl earlier this month, according to a custom survey commissioned by the NFL and conducted in collaboration with Nielsen.
According to the surveyâs findings from 5,189 U.S. households, the gameâs average minute audience jumps by 20% â to 136 million viewers from the 113 million originally reported. âThe number that really got our attention was the average audience measure,â said Paul Ballew, chief data and analytics officer at the NFL. âThat was a 20% lift versus the traditional Nielsen measure, and thatâs a really, really big number.â
The survey has the Super Bowl reaching around 200 million unique viewers who watched at least one minute of the event, up 9% from the 183 million that originally was reported.
Probably comes down to under counting out of home viewers like previous surveys.
And according to those time-zone-adjusted fast-national numbers from Nielsen, it bested the previous yearâs 3.8 rating by 5% in key adults 18-49, earning a 4.0 in the demo.
UPDATE 31/5
Viewership of the âSurvivorâ Season 45 premiere broadcast was about even with the previous seasonâs debut, with both bringing in about 5 million viewers. âThe Amazing Raceâ Season 35 broadcast was viewed by an average 2.6 million viewers, down from last yearâs 3 million. But these numbers donât account for viewership on Paramount+ and the CBS app and website, where CBS programming is simulcast. On streaming, âSurvivorâ was up 42% and and âThe Amazing Raceâ was up 36%, suggesting that overall, the audiences for both shows were significantly larger than they were in 2022.
Foxâs coverage of game 5 of 2023 MLB World Series, which saw Texas Rangers beating Arizona Diamondbacks on the road to claim the title, was watched by an average of 11.481 million viewers with a 2.32 rating in 18-49.
According to Nielsen, this yearâs Rangers-D-Backs series notched the lowest viewership totals of any World Series since records have been kept, going back to the 1960s. The five games averaged 9.1 million viewers, displacing the 2020 World Series, which averaged 9.8 million after a pandemic-shortened season.
Sunday nightâs telecast also managed to surpass 2021âs audience of 6.9 million.
Preliminary data shows that only 4.3 million viewers watched the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards on FOX, lower than the 2022 event which pulled six million. Monday was a public holiday in the US, and the FOX telecast was up against an NFL Wild Card game on ESPN.
Super Bowl LVIII sets ratings record with a staggering 123.4 million viewers, TVâs biggest audience since the moon landing
Super Bowl LVIII was the most-watched television broadcast in a generation.
Sundayâs overtime thriller, which featured the Kansas City Chiefs facing off against the San Francisco 49ers, averaged 123.4 million viewers, CBS said Monday, breaking Super Bowl viewership records.
The highly anticipated showdown in Las Vegas surpassed the previous most-watched Super Bowl in history, a record set just last year when the Chiefs mounted a second half comeback to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in front of 115 million viewers. The audience for Super Bowl LVIII was so large that it approached the all-time most watched television broadcast set in 1969, when an estimated 125 to 150 million viewers watched the Apollo 11 moon landing.
But whats the reach? 
More than 32.2 million total people tuned in on Thursday night for President Joe Bidenâs 2024 State of the Union address
That marks an 18% gain over last yearâs SOTU. Nielsen notes that 5% of viewers were aged 18-34,19% were 35-54, and 74% of viewers were aged 55 and older.
By comparison, the 2023 telecast drew 18.8 million viewers and a 4.0 rating in the final tallies. That means this yearâs show was up just shy of 4% in total viewers but down 5% in the key demo. It should also be noted this yearâs show started an hour earlier than it has in years past.
Young Sheldonâs series finale on Thursday night drew just shy of 9 million total viewers, up 28% from the hitcomâs Season 7 average to mark a four-year audience high (since the Season 3 finale).
Part 1 of Young Sheldonâs finale opened CBSâ night with 8.8 million total viewers.Leading out of Sheldonâs send-off, So Help Me Todd (with 4.4 million total viewers, get so much scoop on the Season 3 that will never be, and much more) was flat with its unplanned series finale. Elsbeth (4.2 mil) was also steady week-to-week.
#CBSRatingsNews @CBS @YoungSheldon has accrued 174 billion minutes viewed across 7 seasons/137 episodes on CBS, cable and streaming. Thatâs the most minutes viewed for any TV or streaming comedy that has debuted since 2017! (According to Nielsen) pic.twitter.com/uoIa0fVDfJ
â CBS Network PR (@CBSNetworkPR) May 17, 2024
Survivor 46 finishes the 2023-2024 season as TVâs no. 1 entertainment show among A18-34, A18-49 and A25-54 for the first time since its second season in the 2000-2001 season, when it won the three demos. The finale wins those key demos and was up +2% in viewers and up +11% among A25-54 from its Spring 2023 finale.