The Super Bowl continues to draw a live audience in excess of 100 million. But not by much.
CBS has announced that an average of 100.7 million viewers consumed the game between the Patriots and Rams.
But the TV audience has fallen under 100 million, given that the figure published by CBS includes all platforms, including the CBS Television Network, CBS Interactive, NFL digital properties, Verizon Media mobile properties, and the ESPN Deportes television and digital properties.
With 2.6 million digital viewers per minute, the TV audience necessarily becomes something under nine figures.
But that’s OK, given the reality that plenty of people now consume NFL games and other live sporting events via methods other than traditional TV. How people are watching shouldn’t matter; what should matter is how many are watching, in any way that they can.
The trend should still be troubling for the NFL. Last year’s Super Bowl audience was 103.4 million. The year before that, it was 111.3 million. The high-water mark came four years ago, when Super Bowl XLIX drew an audience of 114.4 million.
