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HOLLYWOOD (CNS) - Fox's coverage of Super Bowl LVII drew the second- largest audience in U.S. television history, 113.055 million viewers, trailing only NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1, 2015, which averaged 114.81 million for the New England Patriots' 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
The figure for Sunday's game consists of an average of 112.173 million on Fox and 882,000 for the Spanish broadcast on Fox Deportes and includes digital and out-of-home viewing and viewing on the Fox Sports and Fox Now apps and NFL+ streaming service, according to final figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.
Out-of-home viewing was not included in viewership figures before September 2020.
Super Bowl viewership increased for the second consecutive year after dropping below 100 million for the second time since 2014 in 2021 in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Viewership for the Kansas City Chiefs' 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles was 11.8% higher than the 101.085 million average for the Rams' 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI in 2022, which aired on NBC.
Viewership for "Next Level Chef" was the lowest on record for an entertainment program immediately following the Super Bowl postgame shows, the latest example of the decline in viewership for nearly all forms of programming.
The second season premiere of the cooking competition series averaged 15.657 million viewers, following eight- and 14-minute postgame shows that averaged 88.171 million and 58.474 million viewers.
The previous low was 17.362 million for an episode of the ABC espionage thriller "Alias" which followed Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003 and did not begin until 11:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time because the postgame show included a performance by the rock band Bon Jovi.
President Joe Biden's State of the Union address Feb. 7 averaged the smallest audience for a presidential address to Congress on record, 27.312 million viewers on 16 networks. The previous low was 26.936 million viewers for Biden's speech to a joint session of Congress in 2021.
Viewership was down 28.5% from Biden's 2022 State of the Union address which averaged 38.197 million viewers on 16 networks.
Fox News Channel drew the largest audience for the speech, 4.695 million.
Figures date back to 1993, when then-President Bill Clinton's address to a joint session of Congress in his first year in office averaged a record- 66.9 million viewers.
The speech a president gives to Congress in his first year in office is not considered a State of the Union address.
The three State of the Union addresses and one address to a joint session of Congress delivered by then-President Donald Trump averaged between 37.173 million and 47.741 million viewers.
As is typical for the network airing the Super Bowl, Fox overwhelmed its rivals, averaging 25.04 million viewers for its 17 hours of prime-time programming between Feb. 6 and Sunday, nearly three times the combined viewership of CBS, ABC and NBC.
CBS averaged 3.96 million viewers and ABC and NBC both 2.94 million, all for 22 hours of prime-time programming.
Fox's most-watched program outside of Sunday was "9-1-1: Lone Star," 25th for the week averaging 3.802 million viewers.
CBS had each of the week's 10 most-watched prime-time programs airing between Feb. 6 and Saturday, topped by "Young Sheldon" which averaged 7.725 million viewers. Only one other prime-time program between Feb. 6 and Saturday topped seven million viewers, the CBS action drama "NCIS," which averaged 7.15 million viewers.
ABC's most-watched program was its State of the Union coverage which averaged 4.405 million viewers, 20th for the week. Its most-watched entertainment program was "The Conners," 23rd for the week averaging 4.209 million viewers.
NBC's most-watched program was "America's Got Talent: All-Stars," 15th for the week averaging 4.838 million viewers.
The CW averaged 380,000 viewers for its 14 hours of programming. Its most-watched program for the second consecutive week was the magic competition series "Penn & Teller: Fool Us," which averaged 619,000 viewers, 163rd among broadcast programs. Its overall ranking was not available.
The lone premiere on the five major broadcast networks, the ABC comedy "Not Dead Yet," averaged 3.606 million viewers, third in its 8:30-9 p.m. time slot Feb. 8, 34th for the week and seventh among comedies. It retained 85.4% of the audience of "The Conners" that preceded it.
A second episode of "Not Dead Yet" averaged 2.882 million viewers from 9:30-10:30 p.m. Feb. 8, third in its time slot, 55th for the week and ninth among comedies. It retained 89.5% of the audience of "Abbott Elementary" that preceded it.
The 20 most-watched prime-time programs consisted of Fox's coverage of Super Bowl LVII, its eight- and 14-minute postgame shows and "Next Level Chef"; 10 CBS scripted programs and its special, "Super Bowl Greatest Commercials: Battle of the Decades"; NBC's "America's Got Talent: All- Stars"; and four State of the Union-related programs, three on Fox News Channel and one on ABC.
Four State of the Union-related programs on Fox News Channel were the week's four most-watched prime-time cable programs, topped by a 25-minute analysis program that averaged 4.797 million viewers, 17th overall.
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable network in prime time for the third consecutive week, averaging 2.437 million viewers. MSNBC was second, averaging 1.318 million viewers and ESPN third, averaging 905,000.
The cable top 20 consisted of nine State of the Union-related programs -- four each on Fox News Channel and MSNBC and one on CNN; nine Fox News Channel weeknight political talk shows (five broadcasts of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," three of "Hannity" and one of "The Ingraham Angle"); the MSNBC news and opinion program, "The Rachel Maddow Show"; and TNT's coverage of the Feb. 7 Lakers-Oklahoma City Thunder game where LeBron James became the NBA's career scoring leader.
The fourth season of "You" was Netflix's most-watched television program, with viewers spending 92.07 million hours watching the 10 episodes of the psychological thriller in the first four days they were available, according to figures released by the streaming service Tuesday.
"Your Place or Mine" was Netflix's most-watched movie, with viewers watching the romantic comedy for 51.23 million hours during the first three days it was available.
An episode of the Univision telenovela "Mi Camino Es Amarte" was the most-watched Spanish-language program for the third time in four weeks, with the Thursday episode averaging 1.698 million viewers, 70th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 27th consecutive week and 165th time in 167 weeks, averaging 1.26 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 940,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (454,000) and Estrella TV (80,000).
ABC's "World News Tonight with David Muir" was the most-watched nightly newscast for the 218th time in the last 220 weeks, averaging 8.289 million viewers. "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" was second, averaging 7.246 million viewers, and the "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell" third, averaging 5.289 million viewers.
The week's 10 most-watched prime-time programs were Fox's coverage of Super Bowl LVII, its eight- and 14-minute pregame shows and "Next Level Chef"; and CBS' "Young Sheldon," "NCIS," "Ghosts," "Fire Country," "The Neighborhood" and "Blue Bloods."