Getty Image / Don Juan Moore
Super Bowl LVIII smashed viewership numbers in the United States and abroad. Call it the Patrick Mahomes Effect, the Taylor Swift Effect, call it whatever you want but viewership in the US was up 9% from last year with a record-setting 58.8 million women watching the Super Bowl, the most in history.
Now the numbers are in from the UK and Super Bowl LVIII was the most-watched NFL game ever on Sky Sports and ITV with a viewership of 3.4 million, according to Sports Pro Media. The UK has a population of about 67.33 million or about 5% of the entire UK population.
It has been evident for a long time that the NFL is gaining a foothold in the UK while the Premier League continues to grow here in the United States. Both have set viewership records but it’s also evident the UK is more in to real football than Americans are into soccer.
Compare the UK’s Super Bowl LVIII viewership of 3.4 million across Sky Sports and ITV with the 5 most-watched Premier League games of 2023 including the most-watched PL game of all-time in the US:
Liverpool-Arsenal, 1.96 million, 12/23/23
Arsenal-Man U, 1.92 million, 1/22/23
Liverpool-Man U, 1.77 million, 1/17/23
Arsenal-Man U, 1.48 million, 9/3/23
Tottenham-City, 1.47 million, 2/5/23
Liverpool vs Arsenal on 12/23 was the most-watched Premier League game ever in the United States where we have a population of 331.9 million. That’s about 0.58% of the US population accounting for the most-watched Premier League game ever while Super Bowl LVIII brought in around 5% of the UK population this year.
The NFL is the King of TV in the United States. We know that. NFL games accounted for 93 of the 100 most-watched TV programs in 2023.
Meanwhile, Lionel Messi made his 2024 MLS debut on Wednesday night. He is the biggest soccer star on planet earth and it’s really not even close:
The MLS is bringing in over 1M in viewership for its biggest games. But 1 million is nowhere close to the NFL which averages 17.9 million viewers per game.