It turns out that Super Bowl XLIII’s ratings were even better than early estimates indicated: The Pittsburgh Steelers’ dramatic victory over the Arizona Cardinals scored the second-largest numbers ever for the Big Game, averaging 95.4 million viewers for NBC — outdone only by last year’s at-least-as-memorable Giants-Patriots matchup, which tackled 97.5 million for Fox.
Incidentally, TV trivia geeks, that also makes Sunday’s game the third-most-viewed telecast in history. No. 1? The M*A*S*H finale in 1983, with 106 million viewers
TUESDAY UPDATE: NBC is now saying that this year’s game was the most-watched Super Bowl in history, with an average of 98.7 million viewers. Still, that total trails the M*A*S*H finale by some measure.
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Does anyone know where to get the ratings for post-Superbowl Office?
I like to believe those extra 2.1 million viewers decided to watch the far superior Puppy Bowl this year.
Yes, my (lofty) goal in life is to see the Puppy Bowl get higher ratings than the Super Bowl.
Unite, people!
The early office estimates are (a record-breaking) 22 million. http://futoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20090202nbc04
I can still remember watching the MASH finale at 6 years old. I’ve seen all three of the top ratings getters!