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11:45 AM UPDATE: CBS just announced its Super Bowl XLIV coverage was the most-watched program in TV history. (Assuming this is U.S. history, since the World Cup for soccer is seen by more people around the world.) An average of 106.5 million viewers watched New Orleans beat the Indianapolis Colts. The game even topped the 1983 M*A*S*H* finale seen by 106 million. The network’s fast national household rating/share was 45.0/68, the highest in 14 years. Last night’s Super Bowl rating/share peaked at a 48.5/70 from 9:00PM-9:30PM ET with an average of 114.1 million viewers. Which just goes to show that, even though everyone says there’s no such thing as double-digit ratings in entertainment TV anymore, some event programming transcend normal viewing habits and bring eyeballs nationwide back to the networks.
Because of the game, the CBS premiere of its heavily hyped new reality show Undercover Boss benefited greatly, averaging a 19.0/32 with an average of 38.61 million viewers – 16.6 million in adults 25-54, 16.2 million in adults 18-49, and 15.1 million in adults 18-34. CBS said it was the largest audience ever for a new series following the Super Bowl since the advent of people meters in 1987. Also, the largest audience ever to watch the premiere episode of a reality series. And the most watched new series premiere overall on television since “The Dolly Show” on September 27, 1987 (seen by 39.47 million). The 3rd largest post-Super Bowl audience behind the “Friends Special” on January 28, 1996 and CBS’s Survivor: The Australian Outback on January 28, 2001. And the largest audience for an entertainment program this season as well as the best ratings in households, adults 25-54, adults 18-49 and adults 18-34.
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“Undercover Boss” was so producer manipulated it was kind of shocking.
But in these economic times it’s not surprising it did so well. CBS was smart to launch it then.
Hate to be the guy who does this, but shouldn’t that read “most watched tv show in US history”? No one really thinks more people watch the Superbowl than the World Cup finals.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/why-fifas-claim-of-one-billion-tv-viewers-was-a-quarter-right-438302.html
Undercover Boss (or what I saw of it) reeked of corporate damage control. My favorite part was the CEO blaming the problems on the manager, berating him for punishing employees for clocking in “one minute” late. And the look on the manager’s face said, “That’s what you told me to do, but I can’t call you out on your bullshit because you’ll can my ass as soon as this camera crew leaves, so I’ll shut the hell up and eat it.”
Then the CEO gets to be the hero of the day, offering promotions and bonuses and extended holidays. What a pile of garbage.
Well with 1/2 the country locked in their snowbound homes should we really be surprised???!!! I wonder what the ratings would have been if it had been a lovely warm day in the East??
The game was at night in the east coast in the winter. What type of warm fantasy day are you imagining?
Indeed. 106.5 million does not clear the numbers routinely posted by World Cup soccer games, it does not even clear things like the equivalent event in European soccer, the Champions League final, which I believe hit 109 million last year.
@Rookie
The main difference is that the people who watched American football, even if there were fewer of them, were more entertained. Soccer is a third world sport. It’s a low scoring bore good for people with lots of time on their hands. It’s like basketball on a field with a bigger net and no hands. American football is the pinnacle of team sport. It is the best adapted to television, employs the most technology in terms of player equipment and is, ultimately, a metaphor for war. How can soccer ever top that? I predict, in the future, football will spread out from America and conquer soccer the same way it has baseball.
@Greg: “Soccer is a third world sport.”
So: Germany, England, France, Italy, Spain, South Korea, etc. are third world? Umm… ignorance fail!
This is the stupidest post I’ve seen in a while. Soccer is generally played in a fixed amount of time and goes by faster than your average football, basketball, or baseball game.
Even basketball is far more popular internationally than American football. The simple fact is that a game that can be played with nothing more than a ball will be far more popular and accessible than one that cannot be played safely without tons of gear.
Idiot.
The fact that “Undercover Boss” is the “most watched TV premiere” since THE DOLLY SHOW (!) way back in ’87 says a lot about the popularity of DOLLY PARTON – too bad TV audiences never got to see her first TV sicom, 1994′s ill-fated but promising HEAVEN’S TO BETSY, the production-plagued CBS series that actually shot six episodes that never aired on network TV – too bad – the episodes I saw/recall were sheer comic gold and Dolly, as usual, was a very likeable, relatable TV presence – maybe it’s time to bring Dolly back to the small screen! “Here you come again…”
Greg, what are you talking about? Please never leave America.
Soccer is the biggest sport on the planet for a reason. Just because it’s not as popular in the USA doesn’t mean we need to dismiss it.
@ SimAlex2000
You obviously don’t understand metaphor. Soccer is a Third World sport because it is primitive. It requires nothing more than a ball and a goal. There are no set plays, no technological advancements that make the game more intense, no concessions to modernity. It’s popularity is a by product of the ease with which it can be played. American football is a game that has evolved with modernity. It’s not a question of whether soccer is popular in Europe that determines its status as a third world sport. It’s the nature of the game itself.
@Greg:
“American football is a game that has evolved with modernity.”
and also produces massive concussion problems.
so, again, fail.
The ease of playing soccer is the key to its popularity though. You can get a soccer game going in any town in the world with a population of 22 or higher. Hence it is a tremendously popular sport worldwide because it can be played. And being able to play the sport casually is a major part of a sport’s success – it’s why hockey is definitively the fourth place sport in the US.
I would bet on MLS outpacing the NHL before I’d bet on American football outpacing soccer in any country.