(Audacy) Super Bowl 56 between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday was a massive ratings success.
An estimated 112.3 million people across all platforms watched the Rams defeat the Bengals, 23-20, according to reports. That represented a 14% ratings bump from a year ago, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs met in Super Bowl 55.
On one hand, it isn't surprising that this Super Bowl crushed last year's in terms of ratings when you consider that the Buccaneers throttled the Chiefs, 31-9.
Still, that Super Bowl featured iconic quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. For the Rams-Bengals matchup to have so much success in terms of ratings when both Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow were making their first appearances on the sport's biggest stage suggests that the NFL will continue to be a ratings king, even as the league enters -- at least we think -- the post-Brady era.
It's probably impossible to quantify how many people turned the game on simply for the allure of it being played in Los Angeles, but certainly for those 50 and under, let's say, the chance to watch a halftime show with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak was appealing as well.
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