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.
Chris, check which Super Bowl those other sites are reporting as 98.7 million. Because that’s the exact number last year’s Super Bowl got. Would be very weird for two in a row to get the same number.
106+ number directly from CBS. Not sure of Chris’ sources, and don’t care. That said, CBS hasn’t issued an official press release with viewer averages. Could be at this point they will just wait for national finals.
CrimsoV, the 105.97 million for MASH was a viewer average, not a HH rating average. I’m guessing you’re right that it will not overtake MASH in terms of being highest-rated on a household % basis.
CrimsoV, there’s no one “list” for ratings records. Super Bowl 44 will be the most viewed program, but M*A*S*H will remain the king of the rating (% of people who watched).
Didn’t watch a minute of it. Football just isn’t for me. If it was baseball I would have been all over it.
wow it only took 27 years to beat the MASH record….
The surviving Beatles are not the Beatles. While this was billed as the “Who” and people accepted it, yes it’s true most of the band is no longer alive. Just Townshend & Daltry, but that works.. but if Paul & Ringo took the stage, NOBODY would say it’s the beatles.
Next year is at Dallas Stadium.. Jerry Jones home turf. So, imagine one of these: Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood… that kind of thing.
Impressive and a great win for NO–I was conflicted about the interception because it killed the last 5 minutes for a neutral but it did cause the best result. Nevertheless, I bet the most recent world cup final is actually the most watched program of all time.
True, MASH had a bigger share and that probably won’t be topped. But did people have “MASH Parties”? Or go to bars in large groups to watch it?
Robert, how does Nielsen handle that sort of activity? Is the “per TV average” calculated differently for an event like the Superbowl? One person in my house watches American Idol on Tuesday. 27 were are watching the Superbowl on the same TV last night.
Catiebug, each person watching a TV in a Nielsen home is counted. Bars are not. But there was a poll recently that showed that most people do not watch the Super Bowl in bars, which I believe. You have Super Bowl parties at someone’s house, not at a bar.
The series premiered on September 17, 1972, and ended February 28, 1983, with the finale becoming the most-watched television episode in U.S. television history, with 121.6 million viewers.[1]
@ Catie…I remember going to a MASH party. Felt great to dress up as my favorite character of all time: Hot Lips
Though there are many more millions of homes with TVs now and many more people, there also is an enormous amount of TV networks today for people to choose between.
This is like those misleading Box Office numbers we get each week, where somehow Avatar becomes the biggest movie of all time, when actually many, many, many, many more people actually purchased tickets to movies such as Titanic, Jaws and The Exorcist.
Not knocking Avatar, by the way, which is a sensation like few movies have been in the past 15 years. Just pointing out that being a sensation these days takes a lot fewer actual ticket buyers than it ever has. And that is with the movies today having the advantage of a far greater population from which to draw than every movie year previously.
Still, you could look at this as MORE impressive than the MASH record when you consider how fractured the viewing public is today compared to then. So, in the end, maybe this year’s Super Bowl viewing numbers were a greater accomplishment than compared to the days when MASH was competing against only two other channels.
Either way, it’s apples to oranges, and it would take a whole lot more math than anyone seems to be using to really say for certain. But don’t mind me, I’m the killjoy who thinks the decade still has one year to go.
Julia, judging from Catiebug’s post, the 27 people were at her house not a bar, but Nielsen doesn’t measure out of home viewing either way. If you were a Nielsen family, your viewing would still count, but you would have no way to account for the other people at your house (even if they were Nielsen families who were out of their homes).
And just to clarify Julia’s comment: no, not each person in a Nielsen home would be counted, just the people who were actually members of that household. Hope that makes sense.
John, Nielsen is saying MASH had 105.97 million so that’s what we’re going with.
Ratings wise, isn’t The Ed Sullivan Show or I Love Lucy once got high 80s ratings. And I think some shows from the fifties had lik 90+ ratings.
I was at Buffalo Wild Wings yesterday and there were approx. 100 people in there watching the Super Bowl. This was my fifth stop as four other places were also packed with people watching the Super Bowl. I am not sure what bars people are not watching the super bowl at, but in my neighborhood, everybody was!
Most-Watched Program Of All Time *IN AMERICA.
CNN had some article over the weekend about how the super bowl is far from the most watched sporting event in the world.
I hope it goes up a tad in the finals, my guess was 109
Good. So much for those who claimed Favre was needed to set a viewing record.
Robert, People Meters allow for guests. Guests are most certainly counted. (If they are inputted correctly, that is.)
eric, isn’t the world cup the most watched event in the world? what about the summer olympics?
this was the most watched ever. More than MASH or any other show period. that’s like saying “Avatar” made the most money in box office (it did), but more people saw “Gone with the wind”. But avatar is #1 and so is the 2010 superbowl
“To put the audiences in perspective, the final for the 2008 European Championship, the world’s second-biggest soccer contest, boasted 166 million viewers (57 percent higher than the 2009 Super Bowl’s). About 287 million people caught at least part of the game, compared with 162 million for the Super Bowl, Alavy said.”
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/05/super.bowl.viewers.profit/index.html
Avatar definitely has not made more money than any other film. Not even close. It’s currently 21st, right behind Fantasia.
Check out the BO list adjusted for inflation:
http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm
I thought Avatar was a great experience (although not a great movie), but it’s not even close to the biggest box office hit of all time.
I guess it was good that if the record set by MASH was going to be broken it would be broken by another show on CBS. I have always liked CBS. They were the orginal airing station for some of my all time favorite shows Twilight Zone, Dallas,and Amazing Race. For scripted tv shows the record set by MASH will probably hold forever.
“Next year is at Dallas Stadium.. Jerry Jones home turf. So, imagine one of these: Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood… that kind of thing”
…
Just imagining Taylor Swift singing live at halftime is causing my ears to bleed.
I’m thinking Bon Jovi next year…
At the rate they are moving up the geriatric scale, I’m thinking next year’s halftime might feature Elaine Stritch. The year after that, the reanimated corpse of Al Jolson.
Doghouse- I was just playing devil’s advocate. On share alone, I highly doubt anything will take the crown from the MASH finale.
“Ratings wise, isn’t The Ed Sullivan Show or I Love Lucy once got high 80s ratings. And I think some shows from the fifties had lik 90+ ratings.”
Well logic dictates that at one time a show like The Texaco Star Theater or Howdy Dowdy Show had to pull a 100 share because it was the only dam show on the air. At the very least, the first show every broadcast had a 100 share.
100 share, but not 100 rating.
wow, could not have predicted this!
True, but at that time the majority of americans were tuned in. A MAJORITY!!! The Super Bowl Draws 34-35%. From a market share viewpoint there’s still no touching “Goodnight, Farewell, and Amen”
Wow I never knew I would live to see the day to see that MASH record get broken. I am so glad.
Oh Yeah- The NFL is in trouble…
They need a lockout in 2011! Morons!!!!! They have the #1 product in the WORLD! Resolve it- ya idiots! If they have a lockout in 2011- that would be as stupid as if Paula Abdul or Simon Cowell were to leave American Idol thinking he can find something better. That would never happen. LOL! They’re all such greedy bastards!!! If you have something good- stick with it. Lightning rarely strike twice (James Cameron- not withstanding)
AtCat, why are you so glad to see the MASH record broken? It was bound to be broken simply due to population growth. Consider this, however: the 45.0 fast national Nielsen rating would tie Super Bowl XLIV with the 1971 Bob Hope Christmas Show for 26th on the list of highest-RATED programs of all time:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/03/21/top-100-rated-tv-shows-of-all-time/14922
The final episode of MASH had a 60.2 Nielsen rating. Nothing else has ever come close. Super Bowl XLIV wasn’t even the highest-rated Super Bowl; a dozen other games rated better. It’s nice for CBS to be able to say it had the most-WATCHED program of all time but the network also has the highest-RATED program under its belt. And that was the final episode of MASH.
Giving M*A*S*H credit because of the population being lower is stupid in my opinion.
If M*A*S*H was still around, and the final episode happened, never would MASH get those numbers again.
I give humongous credit to The Super Bowl because of all the other channels around now and DVDs and internet and everything else people have. Super Bowl deserves the title.
Sports broadcasts in general seem to be doing very well.
I think the world cup this summer will be very strong.
Come on, Mash’s feat is so much more impressive. They don’t even compare.
Whoa, my guess for the SB was 106 million! Technically, CVI million since I was having fun with the Roman numerals…
Agreed – Most watched doesn’t compare to highest rated.
And I’m appreciating all the people typing M*A*S*H instead of MASH, but technically, wasn’t it M*A*S*H* ?
Sports bars all over the country were full to the tilt with people watching. Some places probably had in the hundreds watching in one location. Just imagine if all of those people had been counted individually.
To those downplaying the SB viewership vs MASH, There was little competition in 1983. This number is far more amazing than the MASH number.
But it does remind me of the movie ticket sales and album sales arguments.
Gone With the Wind is still the number one movie of all time adjusted for inflation, and in tickets purchased, yet box office numbers are kept by dollar amount. Of course, you could also use the “more competition” argument for movies today as well. But Titanic is referred to as the number one movie of all time (now I guess it is Avatar)…when it really isn’t IMO.
Album/CD sales on the other hand are kept by number of units. Artists today and in the future will never catch the old acts and one of the reasons is replacement purchases. So the record for #1 album of all time is based on copies sold, not inflation.
The Beatles get a lot of mileage out of purchases on vinyl, then 8 track/cassette, then CD in various forms, and now digital. The same person may have bought 5 or 6 copies of the same album. That will never happen again.
I have no idea why I went off on this tangent….anyway, you can spin a lot of things which makes for interesting conversations.
True, the US population was much less then, but also, TiVo did not exist then either. I wonder how many more people would have watched it live if the TiVo-like technology was not around.
While it’s true that the US Population was much smaller in 83, there were far less TV competition. Cable was in its infancy, there was no internet, no TiVO no Sattelite, and on and on. Much more competition for entertainment today than then. I am a big soccer fan and back in the early 80s the North American Soccer League drew about a 2.7 rating on ABC. Those ratings were considered horrible. Today, if you MLS draws a 0.5 it’s considered a great night for soccer. It’s much different dynamics today and then.
On the other hand, it is extremely interesting that the Super Bowl pulled in this audience with two of the smaller market teams in the Super Bowl. I am certain that the New Orleans Saints story line helped to boost interest in the game.
It was also an extremely well played game in comparison to most Super Bowls. Only one turnover, and it was really a great defensive play more than a bad offensive play, and a total of only 8 penalties between the two teams. The outcome of the game wasn’t really decided until the closing minutes, so that had to keep people interested.
Impressive numbers – History Right Before Our Eyes…..We needed something to cheer about! Nice half time show, “The WHO” will always bring in the masses = numbers! In a B I G way…
The M*A*S*H finale was 2 1/2 hours long, the last 1/2 half hour was watching everyone leave the 4077th, at the time it was my favorite show, cried like a baby when it was over, like losing friends, it’s been THAT long ago.
To set the record straight:
Share audience record still belongs to the Ed Sullivan’s Beatles show (in 1964).
SB XLIV record should be most people watching.
M.A.S.H. had no business with that record anyway :X
Didn’t an episode of Dallas get over 80 million viewers one time? I never understood how that was possible…were people that obsessed with television?