A global TV audience of 62.5m viewers watched the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII, representing a 10% increase over 2023 as NFL fandom continues to grow around the globe.

According to Nielsen’s National panel measurement, February’s Super Bowl was the most-watched television event of all time, airing live in over 195 countries and territories via 80+ partners in over 25 languages. The event saw more than 50 in-market activations around the globe, including official NFL watch parties in seven key markets — Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Ghana, Mexico and the UK — hosted by partners, broadcasters and clubs as part of the NFL’s Global Markets Programme. Additionally, The US Department of State collaborated with the NFL to host Super Bowl LVIII watch parties in over 30 additional locations around the world.

In the United States, a custom survey from Nielsen and the NFL revealed that Super Bowl LVIII reached approximately 210 million viewers — nearly two-thirds of Americans – across CBS Television Network, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, and CBS Sports, Univision and NFL digital properties, including NFL+.

In addition to television viewership of the 2023 season finale, social media consumption on NFL channels across all international markets showed significant increases in followers and engagement. Total followers across all international social channels now stands at over 17.9m, increasing by over 1.3m since last season. Nearly 20% of all new followers were added during the week of Super Bowl LVIII, and over 12 million engagements were seen across 2,400 pieces of content.

“The global interest in our game continues to grow rapidly, from fandom to participation, and the increase in international viewership underlines this,” NFL executive vice-president Peter O’Reilly confirmed. “The Super Bowl is a moment that fuses sport and entertainment like nothing else, and Super Bowl LVIII was no exception, bringing together fans in every time zone around the world for a football and cultural spectacle. The global growth of the game is a major strategic focus for the league and the 32 teams, and we look forward to continued momentum in the coming years.”

Highlights of Super Bowl LVIII media consumption in international markets include:

Mexico: Total audience reach of 24.1m, with an average of 8.7m viewers, up +5% year-on-year and the highest since records began. The audience peaked with over 10m viewers during the Apple Music Halftime Show.
Canada: Total audience reach of 18.8m, with an average of 10.1m viewers, up +16% year-on-year and the highest since tracking began — one of the top five most-watched English-language broadcasts on record in Canada. The audience peaked with over 12m viewers during the Apple Music Halftime Show.
Germany: Total audience reach of 3.8m, averaging 1.9m viewers, up +13% year-on-year.
United Kingdom: Total audience reach of 3.7m, averaging 1.2m viewers, up +18% year-on-year.
Australia: Total audience reach of nearly 3m, averaging over 1.2m viewers — the highest since records began and up +26% year-on-year.
China: Most-watched Super Bowl in the last seven years, featuring the first-ever Chinese New Year collaboration on Year of the Dragon during Super Bowl week.
NFL Shop: Across NFL Shop sites in Europe, Canada and Mexico, total sales were up +39% year-on-year, compared to Super Bowl LVII.
NFL Game Pass on DAZN: Viewership across Super Bowl LVIII week increased 61% year-on-year.

*The total global viewership number is calculated using data from markets including Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and the UK, plus available data from over 130 additional countries. The Nielsen survey was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago using the AmeriSpeak panel.