Super Bowl XLII May Be Second Most-Watched Broadcast Ever

NEW YORK—Very preliminary findings from 49 of the nation's biggest markets showed that ratings for this year's Super Bowl, with the New York Giants' thrilling win over the New England Patriots, were up 6 percent over last year's big game, according to Nielsen Media Research on Monday.

Experts say those numbers indicate the game has a strong shot at being the most-watched Super Bowl of all time, and the second most-watched broadcast ever.

The game, broadcast on Fox, had a 44.7 rating and 66 share, Nielsen said. That's up from the 42.0 rating and 63 share in metered markets last year. Nielsen did not immediately have an estimate of how many people watched the game.

The metered market average this year was also missing Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Dallas due to Nielsen delays.

The most-watched telecast of all time was the 1983 finale of "M-A-S-H," seen by 106 million people. The most-watched Super Bowl ever was the 1996 game between Dallas and Pittsburgh, with 94.1 million people.

Last year's game between Indianapolis and Chicago was seen by 93.2 million people, Nielsen said.

Fox is owned by News Corp. The average price of an ad was $2.7 million for 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, a separate survey from TiVo Inc., makers of digital video recorders, found that the E-Trade ad showing a baby talking about stock deals -- and spitting up at the end -- was the most-watched commercial during the game.

Counting in people who played back material on their DVRs, the commercials were watched by more people than the game, TiVo said.

Comments

[jubo]

But the broadcast most watched OVER and OVER and OVER ... again.

[sunnfun]

So, "second most-watched broadcast ever"?

Yeah, right. Come on people...

There's a world outside the USofA. Hard to believe, I know. 106 Million? The 2006 Football World Cup final between Italy and France was viewed by 609 Million In-Home Viewers alone, conservative estimates for the total audience including outdoor events, sports bars etc etc are way over the 1 Billion Mark.

http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/marketingtv/factsfigures/tvdata.html

[adc]

Oh, boy. The second largest audience in history got to watch the Pats choke.

Can't believe they blew it...

[David423]

The high ratings for the last episode of MASH is due to there being fewer channels available to watch in those years. The ratings from the days of only 4 networks are finished.

Cable and satellite specialization has so greatly fragmented the market that it is now impossible to replicate the astounding numbers from the last episode of MASH or the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

So many channels, so little choice.

[letsgetsmart]

I watched it but it was tough. First it was on fox, gaaaaaaagggggeeeee. Then we had Joe the shmuck Buck and Troy you make my ass Aikman. The worst football announcers ever. The game was on but the sound was off. I would like to ask Billachek if his team has a group of plays that they run when confronted by a fast pass rush. For a team that claims to be so studious they made no changes and seemed unprepared for the game. The Giants played a normal game. Receivers dropped just about all of the passes and they had a good pass rush. I am not a fan of either but will have to say that this was a boring game. Oh and lets not forget the refs. Calls are usually made during the season but this bs of letting the teams play in the playoffs (of any sport)seems to defeat the purpose of calling them all year long. To make it to the playoffs as a passing team and have no calls made in the game is a waste of my time. This means that the winner is usually the team with the best defense. Not a level playing field. I do like Tom Petty but I kept thinking, where is the entertainment from today. They have to dig this deep for a half time act? And the choice of songs was a little obvious. If it is on fox next year, I think I will skip it.

[b2dap]

Great Game - Tom Petty was OK for halftime show - but does anybody but me see this as some kind of BS pro USA propaganda by FOX? Dragging out Tom Petty to sing first "American Girl" - from 1977 - and then "I Won't Back Down" - from 1989? Is FOX trying to brainwash us and the rest of the World with some PRO USA crap?

[ohiomark]

Thanks for actually giving us a great game.