The official audience for Super Bowl LIV landed at 102 million. The total audience, given that people watch the game at parties, was a lot higher.
John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that the NFL commissioner a Nielsen survey that pegged the total audience at 135 to 140 million.
The survey concluded that the Super Bowl generated 35-40 percent more viewers per house hold than the regular season and playoffs.
Still, that remains less than half of the entire American population of nearly 330 million. Which remains stunning given that the Super Bowl feels like the dominant social experience of our time, with everyone watching it primarily to avoid missing out on that thing that everyone will be discussing the next day.