Super Bowl 58 saw the Kansas City Chiefs pull off a thrilling overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers, setting viewership records while being aired exclusively on CBS Sports.
It is now the most-watched telecast in history, totaling 123.4 million average viewers across all CBS Sports platforms. These include CBS Television Network, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, and NFL+. CBS alone recorded 120 million viewers, which is the single largest audience to ever watch on a single network.
Super Bowl 58 viewership numbers
Using Nielsen Fast National data, along with Adobe Analytics, the NFL’s popularity continues to surge in 2024. Super Bowl 58 was the most-watched program ever, up 7% in viewership from Super Bowl 57, which held the previous record with 115.1 million average viewers.
More than 200 million viewers watched at least some of Super Bowl 58. This is the highest unduplicated total audience ever and up 10% compared to Super Bowl 57, which still managed to draw 184 million viewers in the same capacity.
Not only did Super Bowl 58 get CBS the largest audience in history for a single network, but they also set records for the NFL ON CBS during the regular season and postseason. The NFL came back to CBS in 1998, and during the 2023 NFL season, CBS hit its highest viewership numbers for the most-watched regular season, while also enjoying the best postseason viewership in over 25 years.
The Taylor Swift effect
The relationship that formed between Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and musician Taylor Swift undoubtedly led to a massive spike in viewership numbers for the NFL this season. In fact, it wasn’t just the NFL and CBS who benefitted.
Legal online sportsbook operators, such as FanDuel, have referenced the increased volume of bets on specific markets, primarily with the Chiefs and Kelce prop bets. FanDuel Group CEO, Amy Howe, stated, “There’s no doubt that the Swift effect is real.” Howe went on to highlight that the amount of wagers placed specifically on Kelce doubled in 2023.
This action continued ahead of Super Bowl 58, with Kelce becoming the top player bet in the NFL MVP online sports betting market, along with his first touchdown scorer odds. Kelce and Swift’s relationship has resulted in a 35% increase in women registering a new FanDuel online sportsbook account, ushering in a new demographic of NFL viewers and bettors to continue growing its influence as the most popular sport in the United States.
