When it comes to Nielsen Ratings, the Super Bowl is in a class by itself. While NFL football rules the highest weekly ratings every year, with NFL Sunday Night Football regularly finishing as the year’s top-ranked show by a wide margin, the Super Bowl is the most watched United States television broadcast, period.
Not only is it the game itself, but the usually star-studded halftime show and commercials are as big a draw as the game itself. Over the last three seasons, the networks that carry the game have charged $5 million for a 30-second spot and still had to turn down advertisers.
With all that said, there’s still a chance for you to pocket some cash just by being part of the audience that tunes in thanks to a couple of prop bets from BetDSI.
Related: Super Bowl Prop Betting
Super Bowl LIII National Rating (According to Nielsen)
Over 44.5 (-115)
Over 44.5 (-115)
Super Bowl LIII U.S. Viewership (According to Nielsen)
Over 106.5 million (-115)
Under 106.5 million (-115)
Those are huge numbers, but also numbers the NFL regularly surpassed until last year. Super Bowl LII got a 43.1 rating and 103.4 million viewers, which was about two points down and eight million less than Super Bowl LI. Why was that?
It could have been the potentially boring match up between the New England Patriots and the huge underdog Philadelphia Eagles. Now, the game didn’t match what the prognosticators predicted so those eight million fewer people that didn’t tune in missed out on an epic 41-33 victory by eventual Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles and the Eagles over Tom Brady and the Patriots.
But there’s plenty of reasons to expect a big number for Super Bowl LIII. Television ratings for the NFL are up five percent overall this season. The Patriots are always a solid ratings draw, thanks to their two decade-long dynasty and, frankly, the amount of vitriol their continued success has built in opposing fanbases.
The Rams have an exciting offense, young superstars and a TV-ready coach all looking to begin their own dynasty. The fact that this game is a rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI, where the New England dynasty officially began, is a storyline few people will want to miss.
We are currently living in the true Super Bowl era. When I was growing up, the game was consistently a blow out with the NFC reigning supreme over an overmatched AFC for most of the 1980s and 90s. That all changed with the late-era John Elway and Mike Shanahan Denver Broncos in 1998 and pretty much ever since, the Super Bowl has been an incredible game with just a few exceptions.
Since 2010, only once did the Super Bowl’s rating dip below 45.0 and that was last year’s Eagles vs. Patriots match up.
As for total viewers, you have to go back to 2010 to find less than 108.7 million people tuning in. But even then, that number was huge. With a viewership of 106.476 million, it was the first time the Super Bowl had cracked nine digits in its history.
With the possibility of a new NFL dynasty beginning and an old one finally riding off into the sunset, it’s a safe bet to go the over on both these props.
