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UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers 
UPDATE 11:45 AM: With the time-adjusted ratings in, last night’s Super Bowl XLVI squeaked past last year’s game to rank as the most watched U.S. TV program in history. The tight New York Giants-New England Patriots contest, won by the Giants, averaged 111.3 million viewers vs. 111 million who tuned in last January for the Green Bay-Pittsburgh face-off. The big game has been holding the record for most watched TV broadcast in the U.A. since 2010 when the Super Bowl (106.5 million) edged the series finale of M*A*S*H* in 1983 (106 million). The record, which had been untouched for 27 years, was broken again by last year’s Super Bowl (111 million) and then again last night. Super Bowl viewership has now gone up for seven consecutive years. (Below is historic data for the last 10 Super Bowl telecasts.) 
In adults 18-49, the game averaged a 40.5 rating, the highest in 16 years, since Super Bowl XXX in 1996 (41.2). The half-time show headlined by Madonna (114 million) also posted a record for the most watched Super Bowl halftime show ever featuring entertainment. It was up 3% from last year’s show starring the Black Eyed Peas. Of course, the set’s strong reviews and great ratings are being completely overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the middle finger briefly flashed during the performance by featured singer M.I.A.
Following the Super Bowl, NBC’s Season 2 premiere of The Voice (37.6 million, 16.3 rating in adults 18-49) was up 40% in total viewers and 47% in 18-49 from last year’s post-Super Bowl telecast of Glee on Fox. It also squeaked past CBS’ Undercover Boss 2010 debut (38.7 million, 16.2/38) to become the highest rated post-Super Bowl program in 18-49 since ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (37.9 million, 16.5) in 2006. The Voice benefited from a perfect combination of a competitive game that finished on time, allowing for it to begin at 22:15 PM. (Last year, Glee started at 22:39 PM.) Additionally, The big numbers for The Voice prove once again that reality series on average fare far better than scripted shows behind the Super Bowl. Over the past 15 years, 3 of the Top 4 post-Super Bowl programs have been unscripted, CBS’ Survivor (45.4 million viewers) in 2001, The Voice and Undercover Boss, along with drama Grey’s Anatomy.
Feb 5, 2012 NBC 111.3 million
Feb 7, 2011 Fox 111.0 million
Feb 7, 2010 CBS 106.5 million
Feb 1, 2009 NBC 98.7 million
Feb 3, 2008 Fox 97.4 million
Feb 4, 2007 CBS 93.2 million
Feb 5, 2006 ABC 90.7 million
Feb 6, 2005 Fox 86.1 million
Feb 1, 2004 CBS 89.8 million
Jan. 26, 2003 ABC 88.6 million
Feb. 3, 2002 Fox 86.8 million
PREVIOUS 7:50 AM: Super Bowl XLVI reversed a growing ratings trend by posting a 47.8 overnight rating/71 share, down a tenth from last year’s game on Fox, which earned a 47.9 rating/71 share. The tight New York Giants-New England Patriots contest, won by the Giants, logged the third-highest Super Bowl overnight rating ever behind last year’s game and 1987′s Super Bowl XXI, both of which pulled in a 47.9. Boston posted the best rating ever for an NFL game in that market (56.7/81), while New York logged a 49.7/74, the second-highest overnight for an NFL game there behind the Giants’ Super Bowl debut in 1987. Madonna’s halftime show, in hot water over the obscene gesture by featured singer M.I.A., earned a 48.1/72, up 1% from last year’s show headlined by the Black Eyed Peas (47.4/70)
NBC’s post-game attraction, the second-season premiere of The Voice, averaged a 19.4/33. That was up 27% in the metered-market households from last year’s special episode of Glee after the Super Bowl on Fox but below the last time a reality series aired after the big game, CBS’ Undercover Boss (22.5/36), in 2010. The Voice benefited from an earlier start time — 10:15 PM vs. 10:39 PM for Glee last year. Obviously, with the Super Bowl as a lead-in, The Voice was way up from its series premiere last year, by 159%. Here is a list of the five highest-rated Super Bowls in overnight ratings:
T1. 47.9/71 – Super Bowl XLV, Packers 31-Steelers 25, Fox
T1. 47.9/68 – Super Bowl XXI, Giants 39-Broncos 20, CBS
3. 47.8/71 – Super Bowl XLVI, Giants 21-Patriots 17, NBC
4. 47.4/NA – Super Bowl XIV, Steelers 31-Rams 19, CBS
5. 46.9/70 – Super Bowl XX, Bears 46-Patriots 10, NBC
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Makes sense. The Packers and Steelers have had longer-standing, more widespread fan bases. New York and New England are more East Coast inclined.
GO GIANTS!
Oh, I thought the downward blip was because the missing viewers were over at PBS watching Downton Abbey. This of course makes more sense.
I read a book, then watched Downton Abbey on PBS. The NFL is a corporate crapfest for rightwing morons.
Oh yeah, GO BIG BLUE!
Preach it, brother!
Another tidbit: Ratings actually peaked during halftime. So, that’s a win for Madonna.
The problem with the superbowl, and I know these type of spectacles cost money, is that people are bombarded with costly commercials, so therefore, the commercial becomes the main event. Not the game. And it’s going to get worse as the years go on, as people have DVR’s in their homes….this is an event for the BARS and drinkers who inhabit the bars during the “BIG GAME.”
I respectfully disagree. Everyone I know who watched the game watched it at a Superbowl party at someone’s house. And, the surprise and fun of the commercials was mostly all ruined by the fact that they released them early. Everyone had already seen them online so no one paid attention to them.
I have a DVR so I don’t have to watch commercials. I’ve never understood why people always get so excited about superbowl commercials.
So what did you do during the commericals, then? Have to actually talk to each other?
did anyone see Madonna slip during her show…it was in the upper balcony..
Out of 500 talent shows on TV I watch the Voice. I can’t understand why the 60 second promo for it was so friggin’ bad. Fighting… really? Then Betty White… inspired… are you kidding me! WTF? Who is sitting in those meetings at NBC saying, “YES! THIS IS BRILLIANT” ?
For a game with two East Coast teams, with very mild weather thruout most of the Northeast and Midwest, these ratings were VERY good, if not great. Considering also that its on NBC, the least watched of the old Big Four nets, too!
Hey NBC, I hope you realize that about half of the “viewers” for “The Voice” were people who left their TV on MUTE and talked about the awesome game. Also funny to me, only NBC could shead ratings durring such a close game, how do the ratings not go up when it came down to the very last second?
I really fail to understand the attraction to watching the Superbowl. It’s a massively overproduced event that, from what I gather, usually features a rather lackluster game. Why do so many people even care about the outcome, let alone want to watch it?
It appears my man you have never heard of gambling and all of the proposition wagers that can be made on the game. For example, I bet yesterday on the coin flip, time Kelly Clarkson would take to sing the national anthem, the color of the Gatorade that would be dumped on the winning coach, who would score the first TD and so forth. And, believe it or not, I actually bet on the outcome of the game!
And, by the way, the lackluster game narrative is from numerous years ago. The last 4 out of 5 came down to the last minute and the other to the last 4 minutes.
Corporate America wins again. One giant ‘money grab’ for NBC, the fast food nation that we are, and the self promotion of TV shows, movies and cd’s dropping soon. 12 hours of television all for a sport that averages 12-14 minutes of actual athletes performing their job and competing against each other.
It’s not even a sport, it’s an entertainment event where fans need to be bombarded with anything but actual action on the field due to an attention span of zero. God bless america.
NBC paid a hell of a lot of money for that money grab. A real money grab is what George Lucas continues to do to the same suckers time and again, like me.
I neglected to note that the total worldwide TV viewership for the 2010 World Cup and Super Bowl XLV were about two-and-a-half billion each.
TV By the Numbers shows that an estimated 111.6 million U.S. viewers watched at least six minutes of the 2010 World Cup.
What exactly was MIA giving the finger about? Was she expressing rage at being in front of the biggest audience of her career? Was she ticked off to be “singing” with Madonna? Was she concerned that her presence might have gone unnoticed had she not flipped us off?
Just want you to know that we here in Indianapolis had a wonderful time hosting this huge event and a great big “thank you” to all of you who visited here. Hope you enjoyed a bit of Hoosier Hospitality. Come back anytime!
Perhaps my reading comprehension is off, but I think that makes Madonna’s half-time show (114 million viewers) is the MOST WATCHED EVENT in television history…
I heard ratings for the halftime show were even higher than the whole game itself, which was surprising but glad the Giants won.
Interesting but like with all stats stirred with vitriol.. put it in perspective. The country is at 313,000,0000 people. That means… despite how big it was… 2 out every 3 people were NOT watching.
Oh come on. Any way you slice it, it was still the biggest single thing people have watched.
And in these days of the 500-channel universe that’s saying something.