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February 11, 2012
 
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Super Bowl XLII the second most watched show in TV history

by Bob Sassone, posted Feb 5th 2008 12:01PM

My roommate is incredibly upset about what happened to The New England Patriots on Sunday night. He now has to get his "19-0" tattoo removed via laser, and that's going to be painful.

But I'm not here to rehash the game and what happened and what should have been done, I'm here to talk about the ratings for the game. The FOX broadcast actually garnered the highest rating for the Super Bowl ever. 97.5 million watched the game (a 37.6 rating), according to Nielsen. This makes it not only the most-watched Super Bowl game, but also the second most watched show in TV ever, just behind the M*A*S*H finale in 1983.

This was also good news for the show that FOX put on after the game, House. It was "the biggest case of House's career" (um, aren't they all advertised that way?), and it got a 12.8 rating and 29 million viewers. The Super Bowl has always been a great lead-in, whether it's an established show like House or a new show like The Wonder Years, which ABC put in the post-Super Bowl slot on January 31, 1988.

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Pixie

Super Bowl XLII wasn't even the most-watched sporting event this weekend. TV analysts estimate that 200 million watched the NBA's Houston Rockets play the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night. Why? To see China's biggest basketball stars, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, play each other.

February 05 2008 at 7:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
RR

Of course this article really means the second most watched "US" show in "US" TV history. The Princess Diana funeral topped this superbowl, as did Live Aid, pope death, world cup soccer final at over a billion viewers, shall I go on?

February 05 2008 at 1:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ryan

That's astounding, but not completely surprising since we have the people who wanted to see Patriots make history with their perfect season and then of course the two teams being from two very GIANT (heh) media markets (Boston and New York).

In addition, the game was always close up to the last two minutes (or even the last 35 seconds) and thus ensured high viewers THROUGHOUT the game.

Add in the people who are (a) sick of the writer's strike and was looking for "event" TV and/or (b) sick of all the presidential campaign and was looking for a place to cheer/jeer someone other than politicians and you've more or less created a perfect storm.

As a Giants fan, I was thrilled and am currently watching the ticker tape parade while at work. Don't tell my boss! Heh.

February 05 2008 at 12:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gudlyf

I'm willing to bet that a lot of the people who "watched" House merely still had the TV on after the game without watching it, either just celebrating or, like me, vomiting in disgust in the nearest toilet.

February 05 2008 at 11:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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