Taylor Swift made history once again on Sunday — and also, there was a football game.
Super Bowl LVIII has become the most-watched telecast in history, and the most-watched television event since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969.
Preliminary numbers show that this year’s Super Bowl, in which the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime, drew an average of 123.4 million viewers across CBS and Paramount+. In total, the number of viewers who watched any part of the big game is as high as 202.4 million.
120 million watched on CBS, which marks the largest audience ever for a single network — the game also set streaming records on Paramount+ as the most-streamed Super Bowl yet. The matchup was also broadcast on Nickelodeon, Univision, and NFL digital properties, including NFL+.
Final Nielsen data will be available later this week, however, if the numbers hold, Super Bowl LVIII will be up 7 percent from last year’s Super Bowl, which was the previous record for average viewers at 115.1 million. The game capped off a record-setting season for CBS Sports, in which they scored the most-watched regular season and the best postseason viewership since the NFL returned to the network in 1998.
The big game was led by a thrilling matchup on the field, as well as plenty of other entertainment. Star-studded commercials featured Beyoncé, David and Victoria Beckham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, a Friends reunion between Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer, and much more.
And then, of course, there was the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce of it all.
Capping off a season in which the “dads, Brads and Chads” whined about the pop superstar attending games to support her boyfriend, while Swifties found a new appreciation for the gridiron, the couple once again made headlines as Taylor cheered from the stands as Travis won his second consecutive ring — and this one is definitely not made of paper.
The broadcast concluded with the pair’s celebration, when Taylor made her way down to the field with Travis’ family. As the All-Pro tight end spotted them, he approached his mom, Donna Kelce, for a hug while Taylor kept a respectful distance. Then, he came up to the “Anti-Hero” singer-songwriter for a hug and kiss.
As seen in videos shared on social media, Travis could be heard asking, “Was it electric?”
“Unbelievable,” Taylor replied. “It was unbelievable. That was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”
See more on the couple’s big endgame in the video below.
