Sunday’s Super Bowl LII ratings were the lowest since 2009 as the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots to win their first-ever Vince Lombardi Trophy.
The early numbers showed a 7 percent drop in ratings compared to last year, including all streaming sources as well as cable and satellite television, Deadline reported. The game was watched by 103.4 million people, which is the fewest since Super Bowl XLIII.
Critics blamed the ongoing controversy over the national anthem as well as a lackluster performance by halftime performer Justin Timberlake for the drop.
Even with the lower numbers, Super Bowl LII was the 10th most watched program in U.S. television history, and it was the most live-streamed Super Bowl, averaging 2.02 million digital viewers per minute, CNN reported.
The game itself was fairly close throughout its entirety, ending up 41-33 in Philadelphia’s favor after a controversial play was ruled a touchdown catch for the Eagles with under two minutes left to play. The Patriots needed to get down the field to score and get a 2-point conversion to tie the game, but ran out of time and couldn’t make it happen.
Ratings were highest during the tense fourth quarter, hitting 52.2/74, a spike over the overall ratings of 47.4/70, Deadline reported. Overall viewership of NFL games was down about 10 percent over the whole season, CNN reported.
Twitter users attributed the drop to anger over the anthem protests, with many saying they will not watch any more games because of the protests.
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