BUFFALO, N.Y. — Editor's note: The video above was published on Feb. 14.
Everyone knows Buffalo is a die-hard market in the NFL. Sunday's television numbers for the Super Bowl only further confirm that.
Nationwide, Buffalo was the highest-rated television market for Sunday night's Super Bowl, posting a score of 47.9, according to NBC.
Buffalo was followed by:
- Dayton (46.9)
- New Orleans (46.3)
- Cincinnati (46.1)
- Detroit (45.9)
- Pittsburgh (45.6)
- Columbus (45.4)
- Kansas City (44.6)
- Milwaukee (44.0)
- Cleveland (44.0)
Four of those top-10 markets were in Ohio, where Bengals fans watched Cincinnati play in its first Super Bowl in 22 years.
If you look at the past five Super Bowls, this is the first time Buffalo has had the highest ratings in the country since 2018, which happens to be the last time the game was here on Channel 2 and NBC.
The Bengals lost to the Los Angeles Rams 23-20 in a game that went down to the final moments. Los Angeles, which was the site of the Super Bowl at the $5 billion SoFi Stadium, failed to crack the top 10, according to NBC's data.
Nationwide, the Nielsen company estimates that 101.1 million people watched the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl on NBC and Telemundo. That's an increase over last year's game won by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which had 95.2 million television viewers.
Another close finish capped a thrilling playoff season for the NFL, which had several games decided in the last minute.
NBC said that another 11.2 million people streamed the game on their devices, giving a total viewership of 112.3 million people.
The increase defies television trends lately, where most programs are down from year to year because streaming provides extra choices and lets people control when they watch.