Super Bowl ratings rebounded from last year’s low, but the National Football League’s championship game didn’t reach a record projection.
The game aired on NBC, Telemundo and the streaming service Peacock and attracted an average of 112.3 million total viewers. That’s up 15.9 million from Super Bowl 2021’s dismal showing, which was the worst audience score since 2007.
The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, winning their second Super Bowl in franchise history.
The 2021 Super Bowl between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs attracted an average of 96.4 million viewers, a 14-year low not seen since the Indianapolis Colts played the Chicago Bears. That game attracted an average of 93.1 million viewers.
Viewership for the 2020 Super Bowl, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs winning their first Super Bowl in 50 years, averaged 100 million viewers. And the 2019 Super Bowl, which featured the Rams and New England Patriots, generated 98.2 million viewers.
Interest in this year’s NFL championship game was piqued by two key reasons: It marked the Bengals first appearance in a Super Bowl since 1988, and the big game returned to the Los Angeles market for the first time since 1993, when it was held at the Rose Bowl.
PredictHQ, a demand-intelligence company, projected it would draw a record 117 million viewers.
The 2015 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks remains the most-watched game in league history, with roughly 114 million viewers.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
