Super Bowl Ratings Box

Interesting observations about the Super Bowl XLI ratings:

- The game averaged a 42.6 rating and 64 share, according to Nielsen - the highest rated Super Bowl since 2000. The game itself pulled in 93.1 million viewers - the third most-watched television broadcast of all time - behind the final episode of M*A*S*H in 1983 (The all-time champ with 105.9 million viewers and a 60.2 Nielsen rating and 77 share) and Super Bowl XXX, where the Cowboys-Steelers drew a smidge over 94 million viewers.

-The game averaged a 50.2/77 in Chicago and a whopping 55.5/79 in Indianapolis- highest rating ever for any event in the Circle City. Ratings peaking at 8:15 in Chicago with a 51.9/76, while in Indianapolis, ratings peaked there at 9:45 with a 61.6/84. (in the Mediaweek article, the story incorrectly states that Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals featuring the Bulls was the highest rated Chicago program of all-time ratings wise, when it was the Bears Super Bowl XX victory - 63.1/87.)

- Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Feder reports that the Bears' appearance in the Super Bowl this time around, fell short of the 1986 ratings when the Bears won Super Bowl XX. However, what he didn't mention is that the event pulled in more viewers and more homes than Super Bowl XX and the way homes are measured now are different now than they were back then (Ed Sherman pointed that out in the Trib.)

- The ratings will be a windfall for CBS' WBBM-TV in Chicago and LIN's WISH-TV in Indianapolis. Both set rating records for its stations with the Super Bowl, and both adding millions to its ad revenue coffers thanks to the big game and the special programming surrounding it. CBS affiliates in both Illinois and Indiana will also benefit from the success of the Super Bowl.