Super Bowl XLIV most watched TV show . . . ever
After 27 years, it finally is time for the venerable series finale of M*A*S*H to say goodbye, farewell and amen to its status as the most-watched American television program.
The National Football League capped a season of record-shattering viewership by attracting an average of 106.5 million people for the New Orleans Saints' 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV Sunday, surpassing the Feb. 28, 1983, episode of M*A*S*H, which attracted 106 million in a nation with about 75 million fewer residents.
The figure easily surpassed last year's Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals, which had been the previous record holder for an American sports event with 98.7 million viewers.
The game widely was expected to exceed 100 million but only a close, exciting contest gave it a chance at the record. Despite the 14-point final margin, the outcome was not decided until the final minutes.
The Super Bowl came two weeks after the NFL enjoyed its largest viewerships for the conference finals in more than two decades. TV executives have posed various theories for the season full of strong ratings, including people taking advantage of cheap entertainment during an era of economic stress.
The rating for the game, which measures the percentage of homes tuned it, averaged 45.0, the best such figure since 1996, when the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers averaged 46.0 in a less fractured media environment.
(The M*A*S*H finale's rating was 60.2, a percentage likely unapproachable today.)
Between 9 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday, the game attracted an average of 114.1 million viewers, 48.5 percent of all U.S. homes and 70 percent of those with a television in use.
A record 153.4 million viewers watched at least six minutes of the game.
Not surprisingly, New Orleans had the highest rating among major markets with an average of 56.3 percent of homes. Snowbound Washington, D.C., was second at 56.0.
Nashville, capital of the state where the Colts' Peyton Manning played college ball at Tennessee, was third at 54.4, then Indianapolis at 54.2.
New York's 41.1 rating ranked 51st among the 56 markets measured.
Five Most-Viewed Programs in U.S. history:
1. Super Bowl XLIV (2010) . . . 106.5 million
2. M*A*S*H finale (1983) . . . 106 million
3. Super Bowl XLIII (2009) . . . 98.7 million
4. Super Bowl XLII (2008) . . . 97.5 million
5. Super Bowl XXX (1996) . . . 94.1 million
