Broadcast TV

The Office Likely To Be Seen By 25 Million After Super Bowl

Categories: Broadcast TV,TV Ratings Reference

January 8th, 2009

The episode of NBC's The Office following the Super Bowl is likely to be seen by 25 million viewers if the recent past viewership of the "Program After The Super Bowl" is any indication. The viewership numbers for the "Program After The Super Bowl" are pretty crazy, hardly the relatively smooth increase shown by the Super Bowl itself, but I feel pretty good about a 25 million viewer guess.

Looking at the viewership of recent post-SB shows has last year's House at 29 million, 2007's Criminal Minds at 26 million, 2006's Grey's Anatomy at 37 million, the Simpsons at 23 million, but those shows were all somewhat more mainstream viewership shows, The Office is not quite the mainstream viewer magnet, so I think something a bit on the low side of those recent numbers is likely. NBC hasn't had the Super Bowl in 11 years, so their recent history is no particular use.

For those who saw my mistaken Chuck post earlier and are shaking their heads, as they say, "It's not you, it's me."

What do you think the viewership of The Office following the Super Bowl will be and why?
[poll id="18"]

Super Bowl	Year	Network	Program After The Game	rating	Share	Avg. Homes (million)	Avg. Viewers (million)
XLII	2008	FOX	House	15.7	27	17.719	29.045
XLI	2007	CBS	Criminal Minds	15.1	26	16.770	26.314
XL	2006	ABC	Grey's Anatomy	21	34	23.106	37.881
XXXIX	2005	FOX	Simpsons	13.0	22	14.228	23.074
XXXVIII	2004	CBS	Survivor All-Star	17.9	32	19.415	33.535
XXXVII	2003	ABC	Alias	10.6	20	11.283	17.362
XXXVI	2002	FOX	Malcolm In The Middle	11.5	21	12.117	21.445
XXXV	2001	CBS	Survivor II	24.5	39	25.076	45.369
XXXIV	2000	ABC	The Practice	15.3	27	15.420	23.847
XXXIII	1999	FOX	Family Guy -Preview	12.6	21	12.560	22.005
XXXII	1998	NBC	Third Rock from the Sun	19.7	34	19.260	33.662
XXXI	1997	FOX	X-Files	17.2	29	16.730	29.098
XXX	1996	NBC	Friends	29.6	46	28.400	52.925
XXIX	1995	ABC	Extreme Special	14.2	25	13.350	22.594
XXVIII	1994	NBC	John Laroquette Show	12.3	22	11.590	17.708
XXVII	1993	NBC	Homicide Special	18.0	31	16.760	28.121
XXVI	1992	CBS	60 Minutes	16.8	30	15.470	24.821
XXV	1991	ABC	Davis Rules	15.5	25	14.430	26.695
XXIV	1990	CBS	Grand Slam	18.6	30	17.130	30.765
XXIII	1989	NBC	Sun Nite Movie	20.9	36	18.890
XXII	1988	ABC	Wonder Years	17.9	31	15.860	28.976
XXI	1987	CBS	Hard Copy Special	19.8	33	17.310
XX	1986	NBC	NBC Sunday Night Movie	16.5	25	14.170	39.729
XIX	1985	ABC	Macgrouder and Loud	22.8	38	19.360
XVIII	1984	CBS	Airwolf Special(s)	21.6	36	18.100	27.874
XVII	1983	NBC	A-Team Special	26.3	39	21.910	21.910
XVI	1982	CBS	60 Minutes	26.2	36	21.350
XV	1981	NBC	Chips	16.3	26	12.680
XIV	1980	CBS	60 Minutes	33.0	50	25.179	40.746
XIII	1979	NBC	Brothers and Sisters	21.0	32	15.650	31.722
XII	1978	CBS	All In the Family	30.4	47	22.160	35.472
XI	1977	NBC	Disney's "Kit Carson	25.8	37	18.370	42.816
X	1976	CBS	Phoenix Open Golf	16.5	31	11.480	22.363
IX	1975	NBC	NBC Sunday Night News	16.7	28	11.440	15.924
VIII	1974	CBS	Perry Mason**	12.7	20	8.410	15.058
VII	1973	NBC	Disney's "The Mystery	28.4	44	18.400
VI	1972	CBS	60 Minutes	20.3	36	12.610
V	1971	NBC	Bing CrosbyPro-Am Golf Champshps	19.2	36	11.540
IV	1970	CBS	Lassie	21.5	34	12.580
III	1969	NBC	G.E. College Bowl	11.7	21	6.670
II	1968	CBS	Lassie	26.3	41.2	14.730
I	1967	CBS	Lassie	15.6	25.3	8.560
I	1967	NBC	Disney's "The Mosby Raiders" Part II	21.7	33.7	11.910