Super Bowl ratings recovered from last year’s low, but the National Football League’s championship game didn’t reach a record projection.
The game aired on NBC, Telemundo and the streaming service Peacock and attracted an average of 112.3 million total viewers. That’s up about 14% from last year’s Super Bowl ratings.
The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, and won their second Super Bowl in franchise history.
The 2021 Super Bowl between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs attracted an average of 96.4 million viewers. It was the worst ratings for a Super Bowl since 2007, when the Indianapolis Colts played the Chicago Bears. That game also attracted 93.1 million viewers.
Viewership for the 2020 Super Bowl, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs winning their first Super Bowl in 50 years, averaged 100 million viewers. And the 2019 Super Bowl, which featured the Rams and New England Patriots, generated 98.2 million viewers.
The 2022 Super Bowl was helped by the Bengals’ appearance, though. The franchise last appeared in the NFL title game in the 1988 season.. Also, the Super Bowl returned to the Los Angeles market for the first time since 1993, when the event was held at the Rose Bowl.
PredictHQ, a demand intelligence company, projected the NFL’s title game would draw a record 117 million viewers.
The 2015 Super Bowl between the Patriots and Seattle Seahawks remains the most-watched game with roughly 114 million viewers.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.