Puppy Bowl XVII Laps Up 2.1 Million Viewers

The Puppy Bowl lapped up 2.1 million total viewers on Sunday.

Last year, Puppy Bowl XVI adopted 1.852 million viewers, exactly 2,000 fewer audience members than XV. Puppy Bowl XV had dropped 39% from its own predecessor. This year’s Puppy Bowl reversed two straight years of declines.

In addition to airing on cable channel Animal Planet, this year’s Puppy Bowl also streamed on SVOD (subscriber video on demand) service Discovery+.

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Among adults 25-54, Puppy Bowl’s XVII’s 1.11 rating was up 14% from XVI’s 0.97.

In 2020, competitor/ripoff the Kitten Bowl on Hallmark Channel averaged a 0.28 demo rating, which was down 10% from 2019. This year, the Kitten Bowl sank further with a 0.22 rating in the demo (down 21%) and 557,000 total viewers, a drop of 17% from last year.

Puppy Bowl XVII was hosted by Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg with ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” play-by-play announcer Steve Levy and “SportsCenter” host Sage Steele providing puppy analysis throughout the game. Team Ruff defeated Team Fluff in a final score of 73-69, avenging last year’s loss and taking home the Lombarky trophy.

Boston terrier Marshall took home the Most Valuable Puppy, though we’d argue internet sensation Chunky Monkey stole the show (and our hearts). At least he took home the MVN award for Most Valuable Napper (which many Super Bowl viewers were probably doing during the second half of that game). **

See photos of Marshall and Chunky Monkey below (and then swoon).

Marshall, Team Fluff

Chunky Monkey, Team Fluff

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