Not surprisingly, Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVI broke the record made last year by Super Bowl XLV, drawing 111.3 viewers, marking the third consecutive year the Super Bowl has set a new record as the most-watched television program. Here’s the current top five, courtesy of the futon critic and an NBC press release:

MOST-WATCHED PROGRAMS IN U.S. TELEVISION HISTORY
1. 111.3 Million – Super Bowl XLVI, NBC
2. 111.0 Million – Super Bowl XLV, Fox
3. 106.5 Million – Super Bowl XLIV, CBS
4. 106.0 Million – M.A.S.H. Finale, CBS
5. 98.7 Million – Super Bowl XLIII, NBC

I’ve updated my Goodbye, Farewell and Amen Ratings Analysis. Note that while “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” is now the fourth most-watched program in U.S. television history it is still the highest rated single program.

As promised, I’ve updated my Goodbye, Farewell and Amen Ratings Analysis with new information relating to Super Bowl XLIV, which broke several records that for 27 years were held by M*A*S*H and its series finale. Despite no longer being the most-watched television broadcast in the United States (nor the broadcast seen by the most television households), “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” is still the highest-RATED television broadcast of all time, with a huge 60.2 Nielsen rating.

I’ve rewritten portions of the analysis and added citations rather than just a list of sources.

Super Bowl XLIV, which pitted Indianapolis Colts against the New Orleans Saints, was watched by 106,476,000 million viewers, topping the record of 105,970,000 viewers set by the series finale of M*A*S*H 27 years ago on February 28th, 1983. The game is now the most-WATCHED or most-VIEWED single television program in the United States. The game also set a new record for so-called “total viewers” (those who watched all or part of the broadcast) with 153.4 million viewers. The M*A*S*H finale had a total viewership of 121.62; its record was eclipsed in 1986 by Super Bowl XX.

The president of CBS News and Sports, Sean McManus, had this to say about the record-breaking performance of Super Bowl XLIV:

It was going to happen at some point. I loved ‘M*A*S*H’ and watched it all the time. But all of us in the industry are relieved that we don’t have to hear that the Super Bowl was the second- or third-highest-rated broadcast in history, three million behind ‘M*A*S*H.’

I should point out that McManus misspoke; Super Bowl XLIV may be the most-WATCHED broadcast but it isn’t even close to being the highest-RATED. The game averaged a 45.0 Nielsen rating, much lower than the 60.2 rating for the M*A*S*H finale. According to this TVByTheNumbers.com list, Super Bowl XLIV’s 45.0 rating ties for 26th with the 1971 Bob Hope Christmas Show on the list of highest-rated programs. Because there are more television households today than there were in 1983, that 45.0 rating equals 51,728,000 homes, compared to the 50,146,600 who watched the M*A*S*H finale. That was another 27-year-record broken by Super Bowl XLIV.

I’m sure there are a lot of M*A*S*H fans disappointed to see the record for most-watched program broken. But remember that population growth made it inevitable. On the other hand, in today’s fractured media environment, the fact that Super Bowl XLIV managed to draw more than 100 million viewers is quite the achievement. Alan Alda told The New York Times “I’m happy for New Orleans. I want to see that city come out first in every way that it can, even if it means giving up a record that ‘M*A*S*H’ held for a long time.”

To sum up, the M*A*S*H finale now holds just one record. It is still the highest-RATED single television broadcast of all time. As Alan Alda suggested, however, making direct comparison betweens the two broadcasts is unnecessary: “We hit it out of the park, and so did New Orleans. Do I have the sports analogy right?”

I’ll be updating my Goodbye, Farewell and Amen Ratings Analysis later this week.

NBC has released updated numbers for its broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII. It now stands as the most watched Super Bowl in history and the most watched television broadcast in history in terms of total viewers (those who watch six or more minutes). An average of 98.7 million viewers watched Super Bowl XLIII compared to 97.5 million for Super Bowl XLII, last year’s game. But the final episode of M*A*S*H averaged 106 million viewers, so its still the most watched broadcast.

The total number of viewers for Super Bowl XLIII is 151.6 compared to 148.3 million for last year’s game and 121.6 million for the final episode of M*A*S*H. Given the fact that the potential television audience grows every year it is most likely only a matter of time before the Super Bowl outdraws even M*A*S*H.

According to an NBC press release, last night’s broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII is now the third most-watched telecast of all time in the United States of America with 95.4 million viewers. It trails only series finale of M*A*S*H (106 million) and last year’s Super Bowl XLII (97.5 million).

In terms of total audience, or viewers who watched all or part of the broadcast, Super Bowl XLIII’s 147 million viewers places it behind only the 148.3 million Super Bowl XLII drew last year. The total audience for the final episode of M*A*S*H was 121.6 million viewers. The potential television audience has grown by millions of viewers since 1983, however. Learn more about the Nielsen ratings for the final episode of M*A*S*H here.