Many Americans will be attending Super Bowl gatherings virtually this year

Linley SandersData Journalist
February 04, 2021, 6:02 PM GMT+0

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will face off in the Super Bowl. While the annual game traditionally brings in-person viewing parties and shared platters, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed many Americans’ plans.

A new YouGov survey shows that one in seven Super Bowl viewers (14%) will have someone at their gathering who joins through a video chat. One in 11 viewers (9%) plan to be the individual joining virtually, and 4% will host someone virtually at their Super Bowl festivities (due to rounding, the sum of the two individual categories does not equal the total).

Younger Americans who are watching the Super Bowl are more likely to have a virtual component to their gathering compared to older viewers. One-quarter of 18-to 34-year-old spectators (23%) will add video chat to their viewing party, with 17% joining someone else virtually and 7% having someone join them virtually. About one in five (19%) 35-to 54-year-olds and only 4% of those older than 55 intend to participate through Zoom, FaceTime, or another video chat option.

This year, two-thirds of Americans (68%) intending to tune into Super Bowl LV will watch at home alone or with other members of their household. That is a 25-point increase compared to last year, when only 43% of viewers kept their celebrations within their own home. Viewers are slightly less likely to host family or friends or go to someone else’s home this year (16% to 11%).

See the crosstabs from this YouGov poll and sign up to join the YouGov panel

Related: The most popular Super Bowl food and drink

Methodology: Total sample size was 1367 adults, including 594 who intend to watch the Super Bowl. Fieldwork was undertaken between February 2 – 3, 2021. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (aged 18+).

Image: Getty