NBC - SUPER BOWL AUDIENCE SINKS

SUPER BOWL AUDIENCE SINKS

Sunday's Super Bowl telecast averaged 89.15 million viewers in primetime, according to preliminary figures released today (Monday) by Nielsen Media Research. The audience numbers for the NBC game coverage peaked during the 7 00 half-hour when 96.54 million tuned in, but declined steadily throughout the evening, so that by the final full half-hour at 9 30 p.m., just 84.27 million viewers remained in front of their TV sets. The numbers were well off last year's Super Bowl telecast on Fox, which averaged 97.45 million. Nielsen did not immediately provide audience figures for the 6 00 p.m. hour (not considered a part of primetime on Sunday), but they are likely to boost the size of the overall average. About 29.69 million viewers stuck around for an episode of NBC's The Office following the game. The especially funny episode is likely to boost ratings significantly for the the regular Thursday-night show, several writers predicted.

02/02/2009