Super Bowl broadcast draws 96.4 million viewers

NEW YORK — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ rout of the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl drew a total audience of 96.4 million viewers.

CBS said Tuesday the audience included record digital numbers for a game that had lost its competitive edge by halftime — Tampa Bay won 31-9 — and was marked by limited watch parties because of the pandemic.

The most-watched Super Bowl was in 2015. The New England-Seattle game drew 114.4 million viewers.

CBS said Sunday’s championship was the most live-streamed NFL game, averaging 5.7 million viewers per minute, up 65% from last year’s Super Bowl. It was also the first NFL game to deliver more than 1 billion total streaming minutes.

Kansas City led all metered markets with a 59.9 rating, an increase of 8% over its Super Bowl rating from last year. The Boston market, buoyed by Tampa Bay and ex-Patriot quarterback Tom Brady, was second at 57. Tampa was third at 52.3

The total viewership came across all platforms, including the CBS Television Network, CBS Sports and NFL digital properties, Buccaneers and Chiefs mobile properties, Verizon Media mobile properties and ESPN Deportes television and digital properties.