With bars and parties in the mix, Super Bowl audience improves to 112.7 viewers
Out-of-home deliveries tacked on another 12 million viewers to CBS's Super Bowl LIII audience, bringing the broadcast's overall viewership to 112.7 million. Such is the state of ratings measurement that the game now stands as both the least-watched Super Bowl in 11 years and the third most-watched U.S. television event of all time.
Go figure.
As we noted on Monday, the business of counting the house on Super Sunday has become complicated by the rise of streaming and the ontological fuzziness of the out-of-home numbers. While ESPN first began transacting against viewership in bars, restaurants, hotels and other public venues in 2016, out-of-home deliveries have yet to be incorporated into an all-inclusive currency. As such, the numbers are freighted with an asterisk.