NFL Continues Its Viewership Dominance – Most-Watched Super Bowl On Record

The numbers are in for the Super Bowl and, according to Neilsen Fast Nationals and Tubi/First Party Analytics, Fox recorded a record-setting 127.7 million viewers, and a peak audience of 137.7 million viewers during the 2nd quarter despite  blow-out 40-22 performance by the Philadelphia Eagles, including a 24-0 halftime lead.  The viewership totals include Fox, Fox Deportes, Telemundo, NFL digital properties and for the first time a FAST channel in Tubi.  The breakdown is interesting in that 51% was from linear broadcast and streaming account for 49%, up from 41.5% last year.  Tubi delivered 18.7%, while YouTube accounted for 12.8 and other streamers 17.4%.  

It’s clear that sports continues to be the most critical live opportunity for brands as the game also delivered over $800 million in gross ad sales revenue for the game and ancillary programming.

NBC will have the 2026 Super Bowl in Santa Clara on February 8.

In 2024, the NFL dominated the top 100 most-watched U.S. broadcasts with 72 followed by 16 events which were focused on the 2024 election cycle; four college football games; two Olympic telecasts, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final and Game 5 of the World Series.

MLS Pivots With Season Pass On Apple TV

Major League Soccer will be kicking off its 30th anniversary season this month and will continue to offer its season pass subscription streaming service on Apple TV but it will be non-exclusive this season.  The league has recently announced that the package will be available on both Comcast’s Xfinity TV service and DirecTV this season.

The change in direction is significant as the league was the first major sports league to offer its entire season pass product, including national and local broadcast rights, through one exclusive subscription-based digital distributor and thereby abandoning the linear and other digital outlets.  The $2.5B 10-year deal seemed like a major win for the league but many wondered if the subscriptions would be sufficient to make the deal work as well as if it would have a negative impact on viewership and fandom in exposing the game and its teams in their local markets.

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup fast approaching, this move of expanding the distribution of its season pass product seems like a smart move to drive continued awareness and growth of MLS to casual sports fans across the U.S.  In addition, the league announced a Saturday Night Soccer package which will be available to ALL 25M Apple TV subscribers thereby broadening the reach to casual fans who subscribe to Apple TV for other entertainment content.

Rest assured, at some point, it is very likely one of the top professional sports will abandon the linear reach for the digital streamers exclusively.  That said, I don’t think you’ll see that for at least another decade.

Congrats To All The Smoke Productions

All The Smoke Productions (ASP), which started as a podcast with former NBAers, Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, in 2019 at Showtime, and became a separate entity after the closure of Showtime Sports in 2024 has officially named Barnes, CEO and President and former Showtime Sports executive, Brian Dailey, COO.  

The content property which has seen tremendous growth over the last six years is also now venturing outside hoops and into boxing as Dailey was able to secure the IP from Showtime Boxing for ASP.  ASP has also expanded into NFL content and is contemplating a move into golf.

The creativity and rawness of the team at ASP brings a truly unique and authentic approach to sports and culture.  The company has long-term distribution partnerships in place with DraftKings, iHeartRadio, Meadowlark Media, Live Nation, and Kevin Durant’s Boardroom.  The company is also in discussions with others like Apple, Netflix and Amazon about upcoming projects and initiatives.

Keep an eye on this property.