On February 9, 2025, the Kansas City Chiefs will go toe-to-toe with the Philadelphia Eagles for Super Bowl glory. Kendrick Lamar will headline Apple Music’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show while Taylor Swift and dozens of other A-list celebrities pile into the stands and suites. For those watching from home, Doja Cat, Martha Stewart, Post Malone and many others will pop in during commercial breaks. In short, it will be a star-studded affair without a doubt. Only one question remains. How many people will watch? NFL Chief Media and Business Officer Brian Rolapp thinks nearly half of the nation will.
“It’s got a chance, considering the last time they met two years ago, it was the second-most watched Super Bowl. So if the game is close, I think it’s got a chance,” Rolapp told CNBC.
Last year, 123.4 million of 334.9 million people in the United States reportedly watched the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII. This time around, the likes of ESPN’s Q Myers, iHeartMedia’s Don Martin and several other media insiders believe Super Bowl LIX will boast even higher viewership figures.
“It’s much easier for casual fans to watch a game with a storyline they’re already familiar with than one that’s brand new. The Chiefs offer a familiar story and familiar characters, which will draw in the casual fan,” wrote Drew Lerner of Awful Announcing. “Some ancillary factors will also help Super Bowl LIX set a record. Philadelphia is a large media market, and people will remember the Super Bowl between these teams two years ago. Kendrick Lamar, the halftime performer, is coming off a huge Grammy performance and is one of the most popular artists in the country right now. Fox’s Tom Brady will be in the booth calling his first Super Bowl. There are plenty of storylines to go around.”
With that said, all members of the media are not in agreement. While few expect viewership to decline dramatically, some expect viewership numbers to come in a “little bit lower” than last year.
“If I see it going anywhere, I would see it just going a smidge lower, and I think that’s kind of the trend that we’re seeing with all datapoints with the Super Bowl,” Caroline Fenton of Yahoo! Sports told Barrett Sports Media. “The ticket prices this year are down 30% from what they were just a couple of weeks ago. Frankly, I think people are just tired of seeing the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, they’re tired of seeing the Eagles. It’s the same matchup that we saw two [years] ago. It’s still the Super Bowl — people are still going to watch — but I think people have just a little bit of Chiefs fatigue.”
