Would Brett Favre Have Made Super-Bowl Viewership Even Higher?
The numbers are in, and they’re a doozy: last night’s Super Bowl was the most-watched television program ever.
The Nielsen Co. estimated Monday that 106.5 million people watched the New Orleans Saints upset the Indianapolis Colts. That beats the “M-A-S-H” finale, which had 105.97 million viewers in an era when there were fewer television sets … The game also obliterated the previous record viewership for a Super Bowl — last year’s game between Arizona and Pittsburgh in which 98.7 million people watched.
“M-A-S-H” was on before my time, so I should probably just shut up about this, but I always find it puzzling this held the record. I know it was popular. But popular enough to have the most-watched program of all-time up until yesterday in an era with less TVs? Really?
Anyway, yes: A lot of people watched the Super Bowl last evening.
I know the Saints and the city of New Orleans was the biggest emotional driver here, and may have led to more people tuning in. And if you look at the line graph of Super Bowl viewership throughout history, though viewership has increased in each of the past five years, this was the biggest one-year jump in that time span. So, I think it’s fair to say this year’s mark “obliterated” last year’s.
So knowing that, it’s hard to say whether Brett Favre and the Vikings instead of the Saints would have pumped viewership up even higher. Had the Saints-Colts merely jumped up a million or two, or stayed steady with the last few years or dropped, Favre would have likely helped jump the numbers ahead.
But with the Saints-Colts game putting the hurt on last year’s game, and the Giant-Pats game the year before, it’s not as easy of a leap.
But who am I kidding: Brett Favre brought the rating all season long. I’m sure the trend would have continued even more in the Super Bowl, and a Vikings-Colts game would have gone higher than 106.5 million.
Subscribe to our RSS feed.
Follow us on Twitter.
Add New Comment
Viewing 2 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
It's hard to pass up making a comment about the great New Orleans Saints' win in Miami. As a native of Nawlins' living outside the USA, nothing could have made the day more special. Ok sharing the excitement at the wee hours of the morning...have to account for 12 hour time difference in Thailand, and drinking Bloody Mary with bacon and eggs. I used to think the the Super Bowl was all about watching the commercials right? Well when you live outside the USA, guess what? No commercials! Darn, it's even hard trying to stream them after the fact. Point is, the Super Bowl is true Americana. At a little bar in Kata Beach, some 20+ Americans and a few Canadians gathered to watch the annual event and what we so proudly call FOOTBALL.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment