Research firm Nielsen got its estimates of the Super Bowl’s viewing figures wrong, it has emerged.
Fox Sports had previously said that 113 million people tuned in to watch the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles, based on Nielsen’s research.
However, the embattled network has since clarified that 115.1 million people watched the game. The error was spotted after a “thorough review” by Nielsen that revealed “irregularities” in the encoding that enables its TV measurement. The firm also had issues with its out-of-home measurement of the game.
Fortunately for Fox, this means that this most recent outing of the game was the most-watched ever. The 2015 running of the final attracted 114.4 million viewers, while the 2022 final saw 112.3 million viewers. The new figure for the Super Bowl is also closer to iSpot’s estimate of 118.2 million.
The game pulled in more than 5 billion ad impressions, with 64.1 per cent of all TV ad deliveries airing on Fox and Fox Deportes, according to iSpot data seen by Marketing Dive.
“We strive to meet the highest standards for transparency and accuracy in audience measurement,” Nielsen said in a statement emailed to Marketing Dive.
“We appreciate the support and collaboration from our partners at FOX and the NFL to correct previously unknown errors to ultimately provide a more accurate measure for this year’s total audience for the game.”
Last month, Nielsen regained its Media Rating Council accreditation after the watchdog suspended the firm in September 2021 for undercounting viewership. Not a good look.
