San Francisco 49ers
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Source: Michael Owens / Getty / Super Bowl LVIII / Patrick Mahomes
So, despite all the people claiming they were not going to watch this year’s Super Bowl LVIII for many reasons *coughs* Taylor Swift, it turns out this year’s edition of the big game was the most watched ever.
ESPN reports a record number of eyes were in front of their television screens to see the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers, Usher’s brilliant Apple Music Halftime show, and less than a minute of Taylor Swift.
Per ESPN:
According to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, the Kansas City Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime victory versus the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday averaged 123.4 million viewers across television and streaming platforms. That shattered last year’s mark of 115.1 million for Kansas City’s last-play victory over the Philadelphia Eagles with a 7% increase.
Nielsen also says a record 202.4 million people looked at some part of the game across all networks at one point, which was a 10% jump over the previous year’s 183.6 million.
It also eclipses the 2016 Super Bowl between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers on CBS, which had 112.34 million viewers.
It was only the second Super Bowl to go into overtime and the second straight event to average over 100 million viewers.
Possible Reasons For This Year’s Super Bowl’s Ratings Success
On top of the thrilling game that saw the Chiefs need overtime to send the San Franciso 49ers back to the bay without the Lombardi trophy, again, there was also the added hoopla of Taylor Swift being in the building and, of course, highly anticipated halftime performance from Usher.
Leading up to the game, the extreme MAGA crowd somehow managed to link Taylor Swift, President Joe Biden, and Super Bowl LVIII in some ridiculous conspiracy theory.
Following the game’s result, President Biden even mocked them, using the infamous “Dark Brandon” meme with the caption, “Just like we drew it up.”
We will be tuned in again next year.
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Super Bowl LVIII will take place in just under two weeks after the conclusion of the AFC and NFC championship games this weekend. The San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs will face off against one another for Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, but some fans online are suggesting this was a matchup planned by the NFL all along.
During the AFC championship, the Chiefs, with stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, were visiting the Baltimore Ravens’ home field where it was thought that NFL MVP candidate Lamar Jackson would lead his team to victory. With a series of penalties, miscues, and the like, the Chiefs’ defense proved to be too much and their experience shined through.
For the NFC championship, the Detroit Lions appeared to be running away with the whole thing in the first half as Jared Goff shredded the 49ers’ secondary. However, it all came apart in the second half as Brock Purdy and the rest of the offense began to heat up with the Lions unable to answer the bell.
For many, this wasn’t the desired outcome as the Lions had a feel-good story about a franchise that has long been frozen out of competing for a Super Bowl title, while the Ravens, behind the talents of Jackson, hoped to bring the title home for Charm City once more.
As it stands, some fans online are suggesting that the 49ers-Chiefs lineup is a desired outcome ratings-wise, pointing to the Chiefs’ Kelce and the hype around his relationship with Taylor Swift as a marketing boost while the 49ers are one of the marquee teams in the league with Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, and Christian McCaffrey leading the offense. We’ve got those reactions below.
Super Bowl LVIII takes place on Feb. 11.
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Photo: Getty
Written By D.L. Chandler , Senior Editor Posted 8 mins ago @dlchandler123 D.L. Chandler is a veteran of the Washington D.C. metro writing scene, working as a journalist, reporter, and culture critic. Initially freelancing at iOne Digital in 2010, he officially joined the iOne team in 2017 where he currently works as a Senior Editor […]
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