Super Bowl most-
watched show ever
Game averages 106.5 million total viewers
By Toni Fitzgerald
Feb 9, 2010
Super Bowl XLIV lived up to the pregame hype, becoming the most-watched program in television history.
An astounding 106.5 million total viewers tuned in to last night's game on CBS, according to Nielsen preliminary data, beating the old record set in 1983 by the series finale of "M*A*S*H," which drew 105.97 million.
The game was also the most-watched program ever among households, drawing 51.7 million, 1.5 million more than the "M*A*S*H" ender.
The game obliterated the former Super Bowl record held by last year's contest between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals, which drew 98.7 million.
It marks the third straight year that the game has set a new Super Bowl viewership record, with the 2008 game drawing 97.4 million viewers.
Many had anticipated that the game would draw more than 100 million, though breaking the all-time viewership mark of nearly 106 million was less certain.
The NFL saw huge ratings all season, and they spiked further during the postseason.
There was a lot of interest in the victorious New Orleans Saints' quest for their first Super Bowl just four years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region.
The game also had the Indianapolis Colts' Peyton Manning trying for his second Super Bowl ring to cement his status as one of the top NFL quarterbacks ever.
The weekend snowstorm likely gave CBS the extra boost it needed for the record. Many in the mid-Atlantic region were trapped indoors by the terrible weather, which boosted TV viewership.
For example, Washington, D.C., which got more than a foot of snow, had the second-highest rating of any local market, with more than half of its TV households watching the game.
|
|
|
