By Joe Reedy
Upon further review, this year's Super Bowl ended up setting a viewer record.
Nielsen released a revised number of 115.1 million for Fox Sports' broadcast of the Kansas City Chiefs' 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in February.
The previous record was the 2015 game between New England and Seattle at 114,442,000 viewers, not including streaming. It also supplanted the 2017 Super Bowl between Atlanta and New England (113,668,000) as the most-watched of Fox's 10 Super Bowls.
Nielsen revised this year's original figure of 113.1 million by 2 million after a review that revealed encoding irregularities as well as issues with out-of-home measurement.
"I really appreciate their diligence in conducting the review and coming to the most correct number possible. Super Bowl Sunday is the most difficult day for them because you have not just the scale but people are watching on English and Spanish, in and out of home, online and all of that has to be stitched together into a credible number. I give them credit for acknowledging the issue, being transparent about it and get to the most correct number they can get to," said Fox Sports Executive Vice President Michael Mulvihill, who is head of strategy and analytics.
The review was initially triggered when NFL Network was credited with over 1 million viewers during the game at a time when their usual number is 80,000. A second review found errors with out-of-home measurement.
The total includes the broadcasts on Fox and Fox Deportes as well as streaming on Fox and the NFL's digital sites.
"It was a little deflating when it seemed like we didn't get the record but now that we know that we did, it's validating. It gives us pride in the year that we had," Mulvihill said.
The numbers for Rihanna's halftime show were also revised from 118.7 million to 121 million.
Joe Reedy is an AP sports writer
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More