NBC makes it to end zone

Coverage of Super Bowl LII gave NBC its mostwatched week during the official television season since 2010, even though the game drew its smallest audience since 2009.

NBC averaged 23.08 million viewers for its primetime programming between Jan. 29 and Sunday, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen on Tuesday. The viewership was NBC’s most since averaging 24.75 million viewers the week of Feb. 15-21, 2010, its first full week of coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

NBC’s coverage of Super Bowl LII on Sunday averaged 103.39 million viewers, the least for a Super Bowl since 2009, when NBC’s coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals averaged a then-record 106.48 million viewers. Every Super Bowl between 2010 and 2017 averaged at least 106 million viewers.

Viewership was down 7.1% from the 111.32 million average for the Patriots’ 34-28 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI, which aired on Fox in 2017.

Super Bowl LII is the 10th most-watched program in U.S. television history behind eight Super Bowls and the final episode of the CBS comedy “MASH” in 1983.

The episode of the drama “This Is Us” that followed NBC’s postgame show averaged 26.97 million viewers.

CBS was second, averaging 6.08 million, followed among the broadcast networks by ABC, which averaged 3.77 million, and Fox, which averaged 2.87 million.