Super Bowl XLV ties highest overnight rating ever

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Super Bowl XLV earned a 47.9/71 metered market rating/share last night on FOX, tying it with Super Bowl XXI in 1987 as the highest-rated ever in the metered markets.  FOX’s 47.9/71 is +3% better than the 46.4/68 posted a year ago. 


National ratings and audience figures are expected this afternoon. The 71 share matches the highest for a Super Bowl since 1982, an significantly high share in the current era of fragmented television viewing.

FOX’s Super Bowl XLV PRE-GAME SHOW averaged a 12.2/24, a +13% gain over last year’s 10.8/21 and the best overnight rating for a Super Bowl pre-game show in eight years. As is typical for a Super Bowl pre-game, ratings rose dramatically throughout the day. The show opened at a 4.5/10 from 2:00-2:30, then grew to a 6.4/13 by 3:00, a 8.5/17 at 4:00, a 13.9/26 at 5:00 and finally a 33.7/56 from 6:00-6:30pm.

Ratings in the participating markets, the host city, and other major markets were the highest in many years.

The ratings battle between Pittsburgh and Milwaukee was a push, as both cities delivered a 59.7 overnight rating.

The two markets tied for the second-highest rating in a single market in Super Bowl history, trailing only Chicago’s 63.0 rating in Super Bowl XX.  Host city Dallas posted a 53.7/80, the second-highest rating ever for a host city whose own team was not playing in the game.  Only Jacksonville’s 58.9/77 rating in 2005 is higher for a host city, but Dallas contributed over 700,000 more homes to last night’s rating than Miami did a y

ear ago. Two other host cities have rated higher than Dallas, but in both cases those cities had a local team playing in the game (San Francisco in 1985, Los Angeles in 1980; both posted a 55.0 rating).

New York delivered a 42.6/63 last night, the best rating in New York for a non-Giants Super Bowl in 28 years. Los Angeles notched a 40.1/71, their best in 13 years for a non-Rams or Raiders Super Bowl. Chicago posted a 51.4/73, which actually beat the rating for the Bears in Super Bowl XLI (50.2) and is the best ever in the market for a non-Bears Super Bowl.

(Source: Fox Sports)