112.3 Million watched Super Bowl LVI

Super Bowl LVI, a 23-20 Rams victory over the Bengals in Los Angeles, was viewed by an average of 112.3 million viewers, a 14 percent increase over last year's game, according to NBC. It's the Super Bowl's best ratings since Patriots-Falcons drew 113 million viewers on average in 2017.

More than 101 million Americans watched Super Bowl LVI on live TV Sunday across NBC and Telemundo, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen. Across all of NBC's platforms, including its streaming platform Peacock, the game was watched by 112.3 million viewers. It's an improvement from last year's game, which saw ratings drop to a 10-year low.

Cincinnati ranked No. 1 among local market ratings for Super Bowl LVI, coming in at 46.1/84. Not in the top 10 was Los Angeles, which recorded a 36.7/77 local market rating.

This year was the first time Telemundo was able to broadcast the game, making it the first-ever Spanish-language broadcast network to air the Super Bowl. A close game and well-received halftime performance likely helped the viewership numbers climb, as well as a slew of suspenseful playoff games throughout the playoffs. NBC says the halftime show averaged 103.4 million viewers from 8:15-8:30 p.m. ET, up over last year (96.7 million from 8:30-8:45 p.m. ET).

Viewership for the NFL's 2021 regular season was up 10 percent from 2020, the league's highest-rated season average since 2015, per Nielsen.

[theathletic.com]