Super Bowl LIII had the lowest linear viewership of any Super Bowl since 2008.
The low-scoring matchup between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams on CBS averaged approximately 98.2 million viewers on CBS alone. That is just below the 98.7 viewers drawn in 2009 and slightly above the 97.5 million in 2008. That is a decline of approximately 5% from the 2018 Super Bowl, which drew 103.4 million.
In multi-platform viewing, this year’s game averaged 100.7 million viewers on Sunday night across all platforms including CBS Television Network, CBS Interactive, NFL digital properties, Verizon Media mobile properties and ESPN Deportes television and digital properties.
The declines comes despite the fact that NFL ratings have ticked up an average of 5% compared to last year, per the NFL and Nielsen. This is also the fourth straight year of viewership declines for the Super Bowl since they set a new all-time high in 2015 with 114.4 million.
The game also averaged a 44.9 rating in metered market households. That is the lowest household rating for a Super Bowl since 2009, with that game having drawn a 42.0 metered market household rating. That is also compared to a 47.4 household rating in 2018, meaning this year is down by 5% in that measure.
Immediately following the Super Bowl, the premiere of the new CBS competition series “The World’s Best” averaged 22.2 million viewers in the time zone adjusted fast nationals. A special Sunday episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” averaged 5.5 million viewers
According to numbers from CBS, Super Bowl LIII also delivered a record-breaking day on CBS All Access. Sunday surpassed prior single-day records by 84% in subscriber sign-ups, 46% in unique viewers, and 76% in time spent on CBS All Access across digital platforms.
