Super Bowl 2021 ratings: Why it took so long for sagging numbers to emerge

The wait for the Super Bowl 2021 ratings stretched into Tuesday in a highly unusual delay.

“Super Bowl numbers are still being processed and verified,” Nielsen said in a statement. “We anticipate that final viewing figures, which will include Out Of Home (OOH) viewing, will be available to the media (Tuesday).”

The unexpected wait for the highly-anticipated numbers from the CBS broadcast has caused many to speculate that the figures could be down this season. The Buccaneers’ 31-9 rout of the Chiefs lacked drama, as Tampa Bay was up early and never truly threatened by Patrick Mahomes team.

“You all know if it takes too long, they’re scrambling to figure out how to make it look better,” longtime NBC Sports and Fox executive Vince Wladika tweeted.

“Never good when it takes long. If it’s a boffo number, you get it out immediately then add to that number as day goes on.”

Those fears were confirmed on Tuesday morning when CBS announced that 96.4 million fans watched the game across all their platforms, a noticeable drop from last season.

Last year’s big game between the 49ers and Chiefs, which Kansas City won 31-20, got 102 million viewers across all FOX platforms.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal noted that nine of the 44 local markets showed an increase, with 35 being down.