NBC picked a good year to host the Super Bowl. Based on the fast national data, this year’s game was the highest-rated broadcast in 26 years. It also tops the list of most-watched programs in U.S. history, edging out CBS’ broadcast of the big game last year.
If ever there was an opportunity this year to promote new series, The Voice and Smash got it last night. NBC wasn’t shy about reminding viewers to tune in to last night’s Voice Season 2 premiere following the game, and to watch tonight’s series premiere of Smash. The ratings may still be pending for Smash, but from what NBC shared about last night’s Super Bowl broadcast, a whopping 111.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the Giants beat the Patriots. Or rather, they tuned in to see the game and ended up seeing the Giants win the Super Bowl.
The Giants’ margin to win was about as close as NBC’s viewer margin by comparison to last year’s numbers. 111.0 million viewers watched the Super Bowl last year on Fox. But this year’s game does bump that M.A.S.H. finale down another notch on the Top Five list of most-watched programs.
1. 111.3 Million – Super Bowl XLVI, NBC (Last Night’s Game)2. 111.0 Million – Super Bowl XLV, Fox3. 106.5 Million – Super Bowl XLIV, CBS4. 106.0 Million – M.A.S.H. Finale, CBS98.7 Million – Super Bowl XLIII, NBC
I find the above list to be curious, more because I like to think of the context in which each of these broadcasts hit their record. Take the M.A.S.H. finale, for example, since it’s the only piece of scripted television left on the list. The series ended its eleven season run in 1983 to a viewership of over a hundred million, which I’m pretty sure comes close to about half the population of the country at that time. Now, this is not to detract from the popularity of the beloved series, but what was its competition back then? How many channels did the average TV owner have access to and what was airing against the finale? The odds that any TV show will ever come close to 100 million viewers in a single broadcast probably aren’t great... excluding the Super Bowl, which is more an event than it is merely a football game or the average TV show.
In this day and age of DVRs, the internet, Netflix, and so many channels presenting continuously growing competition for network television, viewership is only likely to continue to decrease over time, at least when only taking what’s being watched live (no DVR, encore airings, on demand viewing, online viewing, etc) into account.
Needless to say, 111.3 million viewers in this country (probably about a third of the U.S. population) all watching the same thing at the same time (earning last night’s broadcast a rating of 47.0/71) is especially impressive.
