via CBS press release:
CBS SPORTS' COVERAGE OF Super Bowl XLIV IS MOST-WATCHED PROGRAM IN TELEVISION HISTORY
AVERAGE OF 106.5 MILLION WATCH NEW ORLEANS WIN Super Bowl XLIV AS GAME TOPS "M*A*S*H" FINALE IN 1983
Network Garners Fast National Household Rating/Share of 45.0/68 - Highest in 14 Years
CBS Sports' coverage of Super Bowl XLIV, featuring the NEW ORLEANS SAINTS' 31-17 win over the INDIANAPOLIS COLTS on Sunday, Feb 7 (6:31-9:50 PM, ET), was watched by a Nielsen estimated average of 106.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched program in television history, eclipsing the finale of M*A*S*H in 1983 (106 million).
"With all the memorable story lines going into Super Bowl XLIV combined with the awesome power of the NFL, we are thrilled with this rating, and I am extremely proud of the way the entire CBS Television Network produced, sold and promoted the most-watched television show in history," said Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports.
The CBS Television Network's coverage of Super Bowl XLIV earned an average fast national household rating/share of 45.0/68, up +7% from last year's 42.0/64 (Pittsburgh-Arizona), making it the highest-rated Super Bowl in 14 years (1/28/96; 46.0/68; Dallas-Pittsburgh).
Last night's Super Bowl HH rating/share peaked at a 48.5/70 from 9:00-9:30 PM, ET with an average of 114.1 million viewers.
Nielsen estimates that CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLIV was seen in-all-or part* by an estimated 153.4 million viewers, +1% higher than last year's previous high of 151.6 million (NBC).
* * *
* six minutes-or-more
Half of America watched less than 6 minutes of the Super Bowl. That is encouraging. I have hope.
Census and other data be damned, only the 292+ million people over the age of 2 that Nielsen projects matter for these purposes.
Hopefully you will still have hope even with ~47.6% watching less than 6 minutes.
Maybe it’s just me, or just on IE, but the whole post is a narrow column on the left.
and it would have been even higher if not for the power outages in many areas.
should be fixed now.
thanks!
Everyone in my family watched just to see Manning lose YES!! and we weren’t even Saints fans until yesterday.
Hopefully now we’ll see less of his annoying commercials
This makes me sad. I kind of liked that the most watched program was a scripted program that people still remember watching as a shared experience. the thing most people will remember about this superbowl five years from now will be the Snickers AD “guy plays football like Betty White”
Robert, how did you get the way you are?
via CBS press release:
“CBS Sports’ coverage of Super Bowl XLIV, featuring the NEW ORLEANS SAINTS’ 31-17 win over the INDIANAPOLIS COLTS on Sunday, Feb 7 (6:31-9:50 PM, ET), was watched by a Nielsen estimated average of 106.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched program in television history, eclipsing the finale of M*A*S*H in 1983 (106 million).
+++
The black and white live broadcast of ‘Cinderella’ by CBS on March 31, 1957 still holds the all-time viewership record, and ‘Super Bowl XLIV’ holds second place to the Rogers & Hammerstein classic starring Miss Julie Andrews.
http://en.allexperts.com/e/l/li/list_of_most-watched_television_episodes.htm
“Some sources, such as PBS [4] and the official website of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization [5], describe the heavily-promoted made-for-television production of Cinderella, broadcast once on CBS in 1957, as the most-watched television show. According to those sources, it garnered 107 million viewers, more than the M*A*S*H finale cited in most lists. Based on Census Bureau mid-year population estimates [6], Cinderella would have had to attract an audience representing 62.2% of the U.S. population (171.9 million), compared with the 45.3% that M*A*S*H attracted (of 233.8 million).”
My record books show the top viewer audiences for all broadcasters as follows:
Network Program year P2+
CBS Cinderella 1957 107,000
NBC Super Bowl XLIII 2009 98,700
FOX Super Bowl XLII 2008 97,450
ABC Super Bowl XL 2006 90,700
UPN “Star Trek: Voyager” 1995 21,200
PTEN # “Babylon 5″ pilot 1993 16,800 est
Du Mont # Down You Go 1952 16,000
PBS “Civil War, The” 2008 13,900
WB, The # “Seventh Heaven” 1999 12,500
UNIvision “Destilando Amor” Finale 2007 9,000
CW, The “Americas Next Top Model” 2007 6,420
PAX # “Doc” premiere 2001 4,200 est
MyNetworkTV “WWE Friday Night Smackdown” 2009 4,020
TELemundo Mexico v Honduras World Cup Qualifyier 2009 3,600
TeleFutura “Mexican Soccer League” final 2009 2,455
ION NCIS 2009 2,100 est
Azteca “Mexican Soccer League” final 2006 1,300
# – network defunct and no longer broadcasting
Thumbing through my yellowed records from the fifties, I come across some notes that indicate that CBS assembled for their live/Kinescope colour broadcast of ‘Cinderella’ the largest at that time number of affiliates plus non-affiliates totalling 245 stations.
The audience estimate of over 107 million audience was arrived at by combining the Trendex estimate of 4.43 viewers per television set (an all-time record at the time) with the A.C. Nielsen 49.1 household rating (23,305,000 homes) for ‘Cinderella’.
Trendex times Nielsen was the way most audiences of the 1950s were estimated because Nielsen did not track individual viewers at the time.
I am being a stickler on this because the ‘Cinderella’ all-time viewer record has stood for almost 53 years and it should not be overlooked without further research by CBS. Surely Mr. David Poltrack has access to CBS records for the 1950s and can verify/refute the accuracy of this record claim once and for all.