Super Bowl LII was an instant classic, and the earliest Nielsen numbers pretty much back that up. The Philadelphia Eagles’ landmark victory over the New England Patriots scored a 47.4 overnight rating/70 share in the 56 metered markets.
While that’s a gaudy return, the very preliminary rating is down 2.8 percent from last year’s big game.
All-told, last year’s Patriots comeback win on Fox earned 111.317 million total viewers and a 37.1 rating among adults 18-49. That game recorded a 48.8 household rating among those aforementioned 56 metered markets, which get reported hours earlier than the overall audience count comes in.
In 2015, NBC posted an all-time-high 114.442 million total viewers with a 39.1 key demo rating. The metered market rating for that game was a 49.7. Those records still stand.
Super Bowl LII’s overnight rating ranks ninth among all Super Bowls and is the third best of the 19 NBC has televised.
Yesterday’s game peaked with a 52.2/74 rating during the fourth quarter.
It is important to remember here that this season’s overall NFL ratings were down quite a bit year over year. Final numbers for Sunday’s game will be available later on Monday.
Here are the Top 10 metered markets for Super Bowl LII:
1. Buffalo, 56.4/78
2. Philadelphia, 56.2/81
3. Boston, 55.9/81
4 (tie). Minneapolis-St. Paul, 54.9/82
4 (tie). Pittsburgh, 54.9/73
6. Norfolk, 53.9/73
7. New Orleans, 53.0/72
8. Providence, 52.5/77
9. Milwaukee, 52.3/73
10 (tie). Seattle, 52.2/79
10 (tie). Kansas City, 52.2/73
Read all about the on-field action here.