Due to the nature of live programming the ratings for CBS (Super Bowl, Post Game Show and Undercover Boss) are approximate and subject to significant revisions in the final numbers. These numbers are not time zone adjusted.
Update: CBS press release with a little more detail and some local market info.
Between 6:30-9:45 Super Bowl XLIV averaged a 46.4/68 (household rating/share) in preliminary Nielsen numbers. If it holds up in the finals we will see new records. This is better than last year's 42.1/65 by 10 percent.
Unfortunately it's not possible to accurately predict the number of average viewers based on preliminary household rating, but given the general trend of the numbers, it looks like last year's viewing record of 98.7 million average viewers will be shattered, and 100 million for the New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts certainly looks possible.
In the 9:30p-9:45pm portion of the game almost 51 percent of the households in the USA were tuned to the game, and of people who were watching television at that time, 71 percent were watching the Super Bowl.
unfortunately, the commercials were really bad this year. so were the “who”. can’t there be someone under the age of 50 doing the half time of the superbowl? does it have to be the geriatric HT show?
that’s surprising.
@glenn, the Who was awesome! If it weren’t for them I would’ve been bored the whole time. You just have no culture!
Nothing surprising here.
I’m 30 and I very much enjoyed The Who. I’d rather see really musicians than Britney/Beyonce/Timberlake crap.
real musicians…doh!
@John the Mon…People like you are the reason we never get a good halftime act.
I’m a HUGE The Who Fan and was looking forward to the halftime show. I personally believe they are a top ten rock band of all time and that “Who’s Next” is, bar none, the best rock album of all time.
But they sucked last night. Awful. Daltrey’s performance on “Baba O’Riley” made Taylor Swift look like Whitney Houston. Off-key. Out of tune. Couldn’t hold a note.
People have to learn that you’re allowed to critique a live performance without feeling as if you’re betraying “classic rock.” Just like there is no question that The Who meant more to music, there is no question that a Jay-Z/Alicia Keys-type Halftime show would have been better in 2010.
So why they keep saying people don’t watch broadcast tv anymore? (I’m not referring to you, Robert and Bill)
I think a big factor is that new shows are “meh”, not bad, but hardly exciting and they all seem the same old the same old.
I said 100 million here and got laughed at by the arm chair tv experts.
Bad Economy = higher sports ratings.
all of the major sports.
EVEN SOCCER are seeing recent dramatic ratings increases locally and nationally.
“Bad Economy = higher sports ratings.”
Interesting idea.
Funny how ratings and TV ad revenue are targeted for 18 to 49 year old’s, yet we get half time entertainment aimed at older adults and at least one of the top commercials featuring Betty White and Abe Vigoda. How many 20-year old’s know who they are?
Janet Jackson’s nipple scared the networks silly. Since then, we’ve had half time shows headlined by people old enough to be her grandfather. Will they ever trust young artists again?
100 million people watching in the US and it’s not the biggest sport event worldwide, that honor belongs to the Champions League final, this year edition had an average rating og 129 million people
Nobody laughed at 100+ estimates, that’s where most of the guesses were. Don’t flatter yourself.
Don’t forget, you had millions of east coast viewers from Boston to Washington, D.C. under 2 to 3 feet of snow. TV was our sole source of entertainment over the weekend. I suspect that Saturday night’s ratings were higher than usual too.
I enjoyed The Who, and I’m 22.
Of course, I would have enjoyed a younger, more generationally-skewed band, but The Who did fine. Much better than Paul McCartney last year.
I’m not surprised the Super Bowl did as well as it did. The New Orleans resurgence had a big part to do with it’s success. Everybody loves an underdog, and loves ‘em even more when they win!
These are probably some silly questions, but please, humor me, I am rather new to all of this ratings jazz and find it fascinating.
How do they determine the total number of viewers that watched? Do they an average of the number of people in a home and use that as a multiplier? If so, do they make any adjustments for events like the Super Bowl, where people are more likely to watch in large groups at parties? Also, could the increase be partially a result of the weather, forcing people to watch in their own homes rather than attending a party, therefore, increasing the number of households tuned in, but not really having an impact on the actual number of viewers? I don’t remember what the weather is like in an average years, but I don’t recall record snow storms during the Super Bowl last year. I could be wrong though.
Nicotine: That was Daltrey and Townshend. They call themselves “The Who,” but The Who ceased to be a long time ago.
Kara: To my knowledge, they don’t make adjustments based on bars or parties. In fact, I don’t think bars and restaurants are counted at all.
Well the halftime show was a major letdown the lights were fantastic The Who generally rocks but last night WOW they just sucked. To me they need to realize you can find current rock musicians who are wildy popular and ok to listen to while being conservative ie Daughtry or The Fray or heck put Bryan Adams up there. And soccer never will get the credit it deserves here in the States amazing sport and maybe the most entertaining to watch but that is jmo.
After Nipplegate, the NFL basically said that no young/current/popular artist would be allowed to perform at halftime ever again.
There will never be any decent younger bands at the Super Bowl anymore. They have to target the much older demographic now due to the fact they are more predictable and won’t cause any trouble like the Timberlake/Jackson incident. Although the music is borning especially for the younger generation I doubt people are watching the game so they can see the Halftime show. I’m glad they put boring entertainment in the slot that means we won’t miss anything during halftime when we go play some beer pong haha.