Based on time-zone adjusted (but still preliminary) fast nationals, Super Bowl XLIV averaged over 106 million (106.5 million) viewers and is set to overtake the 1983 series finale of M*A*S*H (105.97 million) to become the most-watched program of all time. Even more impressive as the MASH finale was only one hour and the Super Bowl averaged that many viewers for more than a 3 hour period.
Looks like the MASH finale was 2.5 hours (I don't remember it being that long, but I'm old!) according to one of the commenters, and indeed, the population in the USA was much smaller then. Also it was the pre-People Meter days when Nielsen figured out viewer averages based on diaries.
FYI: per Nielsen 83.3 million TV homes in 1983 vs 114.9 million in 2010
With Super Bowls, it easily eclipsed the previous most-watched Super Bowl, last year's Cardinals vs. Steelers game that averaged 98.7 million viewers.
I was right! I said the Saints would be in the Super Bowl with The Colts and I said it would be 102+. I’m so freakin’ happy right now.
The record was up for the Super Bowl’s taking. No way a sitcom or any other kind of TV show today would get near that
I love that picture, Drew Brees’ son is so cute.
yes but how many tv sets were there in ’83? is this comparison fair?
The M*A*S*H finale was two and a half hours, not one hour. And in 1983 the population was much, much smaller. It was only a matter of time before a program drew more viewers simply due to population growth. In terms of sheer ratings, I think M*A*S*H still has the record.
good points Dollhouse.
Wasn’t MASH two and a half hours or am I imagining things? Still impressive for Superbowl though, will it increase next year or has it reached its peak.
Wonder what FOX’s post Superbowl show will be? Glee is the most obvious choice IMO.
Holy cats!
98.7 million be reported on most other site. I imagine the numbers will change alot during course of the day.
I’m surprised. I would have thought a bad The Who halftime show would knocked that average down a couple million. I was wrong. 60 year old rock stars still have pull. Next year, the surviving Beatles?
However, Doghouse, there were fewer channels/programs to watch. So there are SO many more programs to segment the viewership in 2010 than there was in 1983.
I thought the M.A.S.H finale was a 2 (or 2 1/2) hour special?
I think FOX will show Glee also. They’ll probably have Beyonce or whoever is “hot” at the time guest star.
er DOGhouse.
Dollhouse on the brain (forever and ever and ever and ever, I guess). Sorry about that.
nkinsey, that is true. It would be neat to see a breakdown of EVERY single program shown on ever single channel last night. 106+ million were watching CBS and just under 10 million were watching ABC, FOX, NBC and UNI. How many were watching the hundreds of other channels, I wonder?
Well… the MASH finally had a 77 share if I recall correctly. Incredible… in my opinion it still has the title. Obviously massive kudos to CBS here regardless.
This is not the all-time viewership record. Close, but no cigar.
I believe the record still stands for CBS March 31, 1957 broadcast of ‘Cinderella’ which attracted 107 million viewers, 500,000 more P2+ viewers than watched the ‘Super Bowl’ last night.
Well that’s a lot…
Doghouse if P2+ closely mirrored HH numbers looks like 2/3rds watching Super Bowl, 1/3rd watching everything else (including cable) combined.
I may be wrong about this, but I think the ratings list is by percent of homes watching, not by total viewers. If so, It is doubtful that this game would overtake M*A*S*H.