NFL Viewership May Be Slipping, but Super Bowl Still a Hot Commodity

Even in a season of declining viewership for the NFL, Fox is reaching unprecedented levels for Super Bowl LIX advertising sales. 

The network has sold roughly a dozen 30-second ad units for at least $8 million each, according to industry sources and multiple reports. That’s a record level that builds meaningfully off prior sales for the game hovering around $7 million per unit. 

In November, company CEO and executive chair Lachlan Murdoch said Fox was “already sold out and at record pricing,” for Super Bowl LIX, a highlight of a solid quarterly earnings report. Since then, however, a larger-than-normal number of ad buyers have dropped out of the game—including insurance company State Farm, which bowed out amid the recent wildfires in Southern California. That, in turn, has helped allow Fox to resell that recaptured ad inventory at even higher rates, with the network dipping into a company waiting list started last spring.

Super Bowl LIX between the Chiefs and Eagles is set for Feb. 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. 

The NFL’s Power

Before the 2024 NFL season, Super Bowl LIX ad sales had stayed generally in line with recent years, and some industry executives even suggested the event was broadly approaching peak-level pricing—even as the NFL’s title game each year is the single-largest event in U.S. television. 

The league has since had a more downbeat season in viewership, battling against the tough comparisons of a banner 2023 and posting declines across the regular season, wild-card round, divisional playoffs, and NFC championship game. 

So beyond the ad inventory Fox gained the ability to resell, what else explains the recent spike in Super Bowl pricing? The NFL remains by far the biggest attraction in the entire media industry and still holds an ability to aggregate audiences like nothing else—in or out of sports. The league’s 2024 viewership declines, meanwhile, also are far less than heavy retreats seen elsewhere, particularly on cable television.

The continued splintering of entertainment audiences, particularly as traditional TV now holds a minority of overall viewership, makes the massive scale of the Super Bowl only stand out more. 

Also helping Fox is a recent surge in viewership for other sports and events in the network’s rights portfolio, including MLB’s World Series and college football.