Super Bowl LIII was a defensive slugfest, setting multiple records including fewest overall points scored (16), fewest points by the winner (13) and fewest overall touchdowns (1). And while the Super Bowl easily retained its title as the most-watched TV broadcast of the year, Samba TV’s overnight analysis indicates viewership is trending down for the NFL’s marquee event.

Samba’s estimated overnight viewership for Super Bowl LIII was 33.5M US households – down 15% from the 39.4M US households that watched the game last year*

Additionally, Samba measured viewership for the top-25 metro areas (plus Kansas City and New Orleans) to uncover some intriguing insights about how viewers across the country watched Super Bowl LIII. When compared to the US average, Samba TV’s analysis shows that:

• Boston had the highest overall viewership of top-25 metro areas at +26.2% versus the US average.
• New Orleans – still reeling from a botched call in the NFC championship game – had the lowest viewership versus the US average at -35.7%. This is a significant drop from last year, when New Orleans was just below the US average at -1.8%.
• Los Angeles viewership came in at -6.5% versus the US average despite having a team IN THE GAME – which furthers the narrative that LA residents are lukewarm on the Rams. Although this was an improvement over last year when LA was at -15.5% versus the US average.
• Old school NFL cities rounded out the top-five for overall viewership compared to the US average: Pittsburgh (+15.0%); Kansas City (+12.2%); Philadelphia (+11.2%) and Minneapolis (+10.7%).
• The host city of Atlanta experienced a boost in viewership, coming in at +3.7% versus the US average after last year’s -7.4%.

*HH viewership is defined as consuming at least five cumulative minutes of content