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jakncoke
02-02-2009, 09:17 PM
NEW YORK -- The Arizona-Pittsburgh matchup wasn't considered ideal for television, but its finish riveted an estimated audience of 95.4 million people, second only to last year's game as the most-watched Super Bowl ever.

Viewership peaked in the fourth quarter, when Arizona took the lead on Larry Fitzgerald's 64-yard catch and sprint to the end zone only to have it snatched back when Santonio Holmes' end zone leap gave Pittsburgh the 27-23 win. More than 100 million Americans were watching between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The game was the third most-watched program in American television history, after the 106 million people who watched the "M-A-S-H" series finale in 1983 and the 97.4 million who watched the New York Giants end the New England Patriots' bid for an undefeated season in the 2008 Super Bowl.

"The Super Bowl, once again, proved its ability to capture America," said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal Sports chairman.

The NFL's championship is traditionally television's biggest event of the year. Yet between 1998 and 2004, none of the games reached the 90 million mark in viewers. Each game for the past four years topped 90 million.

Arizona's first-ever visit to the Super Bowl hadn't drawn much buzz outside of the Southwest. But Pittsburgh, perhaps because of its four Super Bowl wins in six years in the 1970s, has more of a national constituency than the city's size would suggest. Both of its last two Super Bowl trips topped the 90 million mark, with the Steelers' 1996 loss to Dallas the most popular Super Bowl until it was beaten last year.

The Super Bowl, long derided as a game that rarely lives up to its hype, now has two classics in two years.

One measure of how gripping the game was: for the first time in the seven years TiVo Inc. has been measuring, more people watched the game during the second half than watched the commercials. The ads are usually watched more because of people playing them back on digital video recorders, said Todd Juenger, general manager of TiVo's research department.

One of the biggest gambles to pay off was by Go Daddy Group Inc., the Internet domain registrar. It bought time for its "enhancement" ad with Danica Patrick during the last few minutes of the game, risking the loss of millions of people who would drift away from the Super Bowl if the outcome was decided.

Instead, fans stayed glued to their sets and the company's ad was the most-watched commercial in the Super Bowl, TiVo said.

Eight of the 10 most-watched ads came during the second half, Juenger said.

TiVo makes its rankings by combining the number of actual viewers and its records of people who rewind to watch a particular event. If the commercial is rewound three times, that counts as four views.

The first-half Doritos ad with a well-pitched snowglobe was the commercial viewers most often stopped and rewound to give another look. Last year's E-Trade Financial Corp. ad with the talking baby was the most-watched ad but revisiting the strategy didn't seem to work: the company's ad ranked No. 37 of 143 that were measured.

The game didn't offer much help to NBC's one-hour special edition of "The Office," which aired following the trophy presentation. It had 22 million viewers -- compared to the 29 million who watched "House" after last year's Super Bowl -- but was still NBC entertainment's most-watched show since a May 2004 edition of "ER."



not shocking that it didn't beat the Pat/Giants, still amazes every time I read that M.A.S.H final episode is #1. Go Steelers!

Jaykub
02-04-2009, 09:42 PM
I was getting a nice respect for the steelers till i saw james harrison beating the s**t out of a cards player

jakncoke
02-04-2009, 09:44 PM
It wasn't that bad+ it's football not some prissy sport

Jaykub
02-04-2009, 09:49 PM
Yes it is. But if he was to push him and he to pus him back that would have been fine but he did nothing and he got punched 2 times and was pushed down 4 times for nothing. Tje steelers don't need to do this there a very good team there not the browns for the love of god

LiNuX
02-04-2009, 09:56 PM
great game indeed, I didn't catch every single minute but I was able to see some great plays and then the highlights later on

congrats to the game and the team for such high ratings

jakncoke
02-04-2009, 10:04 PM
Yes it is. But if he was to push him and he to pus him back that would have been fine but he did nothing and he got punched 2 times and was pushed down 4 times for nothing. Tje steelers don't need to do this there a very good team there not the browns for the love of god


Instant Rimshot (http://www.instantrimshot.com/)

Jaykub
02-04-2009, 10:10 PM
Instant Rimshot (http://www.instantrimshot.com/)

I was thinking the same thing

jakncoke
02-04-2009, 10:15 PM
also........




NEW YORK -- Upon further review, Nielsen Media Research now says the Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals was the most-watched in history.

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Nielsen said 98.7 million people, on average, were watching Pittsburgh's 27-23 victory Sunday night. That beats the 97.5 million who watched the 2008 game, which held the record for the most popular Super Bowl.

On Monday, Nielsen had reported that this year's game had 95.4 million viewers -- impressive but not a record-setter.

Nielsen explained the discrepancy of more than 3 million viewers by saying a more complete check of their records revealed additional viewership on some digital tier networks. The company hadn't been aware that they were showing the game.




Thrilling finish to Super Bowl XLIII leads to highest TV ratings (http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/story?id=09000d5d80e89a4f&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true)

Trunks
02-05-2009, 08:43 PM
He got punched on the pad. Mostly likely hurt his hand more than him. If anyone here has ever wore pads, a punch like that would hardly even hurt. If it was in the side or lower or something, yea wouldn't be too good. But the area he got hit in is all padded up.

jiron
04-28-2009, 04:09 PM
One of the most 4th quarter thrills indeed in Superbowl history.