Super Bowl LVIII was the most-watched TV show ever

An estimated 123.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers at the weekend’s Super Bowl LVIII, becoming the most-watched TV show in history, showed preliminary television ratings on Monday.

According to CBS Sports, the figure included viewers across all platforms and was 7% higher than last year’s 115.1 million average viewers.

The match broke Super Bowl viewership records and even approached the all-time most-watched television broadcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing when roughly 125 to 150 million viewers tuned in to watch humans land on the lunar surface.

A total of 202.4 million viewers watched all or part of the game across all platforms, including Paramount+ streaming and CBS.

What drove views?
The competitiveness of the game, coupled with the presence of singer Taylor Swift (Chiefs player Travis Kelce’s girlfriend), likely contributed to the high viewership.

Celebrity-driven Super Bowl ads also scored big on views this year.

Beyonce’s Verizon ad, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s State Farm commercial and Ben Affleck’s Dunkin’ appearance were highly viewed—reinstating the fact that celebrity appearances continue to drive ad performance. Other celebrities endorsing brands included stars like Danny DeVito, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Brady and Usher.