Written by Ethan Mort
An average of 137m viewers tuned in as the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in a convincing 40-22 victory, making the game the most-watched Super Bowl in history. This win denied the Chiefs the coveted “three-peat” and completed the Eagles’ two-year revenge arc after losing to the Chiefs in 2023. Linear commanded a slim majority of viewers at 51%. Fox also broadcasted the game on Fox Deportes which made up 10% of all viewers. This was the first Super Bowl in history to be available for free streaming, with Tubi offering it to those who register on their app. With that, Tubi made up the largest share of any streaming platform, with 18.7% using Tubi to tune in, compared to 12.8% on YouTube & YouTube TV, and all other platforms making up 17.4% of viewership. With 49% of the audience streaming the game, this game attracted the largest streaming audience for a Super Bowl in history. Viewership peaked at 8:16 PM ET, at the end of the second quarter.
The game began with 118M watching as the Eagles received the Chiefs’ kickoff to start the game. The first ads started off with a star-powered reunion as Dunkin brought back the Dunkings with Ben and Casey Affleck, Jeremy Strong, and Bill Belichick, with the ad taking a thinly veiled jab at Starbucks. Other ads in the early commercial breaks were a trailer for Thunderbolts and T-Mobile’s ad introducing its partnership with space‑based mobile network, Starlink.
133.3M viewers watched as the Eagles’ brotherly shove got Jalen Hurts successfully into the endzone giving the Eagles the first score in the game. Following this touchdown, Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara teamed up for a pick in a Michelob Ultra ad. Later in the quarter, Disney presented us a sadder alternate universe without our favorite movies and shows available on Disney+. We also saw Bad Bunny star alongside Aubrey Plaza and Michael Shannon in a “salty” Ritz commercial.
At the start of the second quarter, 139M viewers tuned in with the score still at 7-0. FanDuel returned with an ad featuring Eli Manning celebrating a win over his brother, Peyton, in the FanDuel Kick of Destiny III. Uber Eats debuted their 60-second “Football is for Food” ad starring Matthew McConaughey and a star-studded cast with the premise that football subconsciously makes you hungry. With an incredibly strong showing from the Eagles defense, Patrick Mahomes was sacked twice and then threw a pick-six, caught and returned to the end zone by Eagles rookie, Cooper DeJean, pushing the game to 17-0.
With 150M watching at the first half two-minute warning, star-studded ads and reunions filled up the break. Glen Powell fought a dragon in a Ram ad, and his romcom co-star Sydney Sweeney made a cameo in the long-awaited When Harry Met Sally reunion with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan thanks to Hellmann’s ad. After a ten year hiatus, we saw the return of the Budweiser Clydesdales, with viewer sentiment placing the Budweiser ad at the top of USA Today’s Ad Meter. Back on the field, a Mahomes interception led to the Eagles capitalizing with a Hurts touchdown pass to AJ Brown with the score now at 24-0. Following this, Nike’s first Super Bowl ad in 27 years was a spot highlighting women’s sports featuring Caitlin Clark, Jordan Chiles, Sophia Wilson, among others. And, doing us all a solid right before the half time show, Angel Soft gave us a thirty-second ad urging viewers to take a bathroom break.
Following Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show, 150M viewers tuned in for the start of the second half even with the Chiefs’ win probability down to 2.3%. Ads in the second half of the game began with a Tubi ad, and Marvel stars Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth reunited in a Meta ad for their wearables collab with Ray-Ban. At 8:57 PM ET with 150M still watching, the Chiefs’ win probability dropped below 1% and would never climb above 1% again. An injury timeout led to a commercial break with Taco Bell shunning Lebron James and Doja Cat in favor of showing some love to real-life fans of the fast food franchise. NerdWallet’s made their first Super Bowl appearance featuring Kieran Culkin voicing a whale. A Chiefs failed fourth down conversion led to a Hurts touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith leaving the score at 34-0. In the following ad break, Matthew McConaughey returned to our screens but this time for Salesforce.
The Chiefs finally scored at the end of the third quarter, but their win probability fell to a stunning 0.1% as the fourth quarter opened up with 10M fewer viewers compared to the start of the third quarter. Big stars dominated the ads in the fourth quarter with Harrison Ford starring in a Jeep ad and Stella Artois with its first Super Bowl ad since 2019, featured “long lost twin brothers” David Beckham and Matt Damon. With a simpler approach, Dove aired a wholesome ad imploring viewers to “keep her confident” featuring a determined little girl running confidently down the street.
While this Super Bowl attracted a large audience, viewership reflected the game's lopsided nature with approximately ten million viewers dropping off between the start of the third and fourth quarters (as the Chiefs' win probability dropped to just 0.1%). In terms of why a lot of us watch every year (other than the halftime show), this year's ads emphasized comebacks, featuring Hellmann’s When Harry Met Sally reunion ad, Nike’s first Super Bowl commercial of the century, the return of the Dunkings, and Budweiser’s Clydesdales making their first appearance in a decade. As always, celebrity endorsements played a major role in the ads, reinforcing the Super Bowl's status as both the biggest game in US sports and the biggest day in advertising.
Keep an eye out for part II of AdImpact’s in-depth analysis of advertising trends from the big game.
