Super Bowl XLV was most-watched show in U.S. history

OK. Fine. But wasn't the story that more people (not a higher percentage) watched the game than any other show? Wasn't the 111 million the big deal?

And yes, it's quite impressive that nearly all of the 26.5 million people in all of Canada stopped to watch a hockey game ... the 25 million people in Texas find that quite quaint.

 

That's the point. There are like 900 channels now, as opposed to how many when MASH was on? Comparing different programs' ratings is unimportant, and total viewers is more impressive. 111 million people (over 1/3) in U.S. watched same thing, plus people watched together.

 

I think the rating/percentage is "more impressive." Had there been 300 million people in the United States at the time MASH aired, we can pretty safely assume the total viewership would have well exceeded 111 million.

 

Yes, the MASH finale would have attracted more than 111 million people had the US population been higher at the time.

However, I really don't think you can compare current television viewing and its almost unlimited options with television viewing in 1983, especially in terms of ratings. How does one know how many people would have started watching MASH in the first place had cable, etc... existed when MASH originally aired? And would people who didn't follow MASH at that time show up in droves for the finale? Doubtful. Scripted programming viewership and ratings are worlds away from where they were almost thirty years ago.

 

I see your point, but the "hundreds of options" is kind of inflated too. It's not like many, if any, channels were running new programming Sunday night between 6:30 and midnight.

 

Apparently the 111 million doesn't factor in those that were watching in bars.

Which makes ratings for most big sporting events grossly inaccurate.

You aren't going to a bar to watch the Seinfeld finale. You might to watch a SB or World Cup game.

 

Most markets do not have the ability to track out-of-home viewing (some do). People watch in bars, hotels, other homes...the actual number is far more than 111 million.

 

Well, my point was that the finale of MASH probably would not have attracted so many viewers in the first place if the television options that exist now were in place in the 70's and 80's. MASH would not have had the following it did and the finale would not have been the ratings bonanza it was. Again, I just don't think scripted programs will ever be the ratings machines they once were due to the choices available today.

 

I think you're getting too far afield of the debate, Care Bear. To me the puffery is about the NFL trying to show that nothing in TV history has ever held so much sway over the nation at one time. That's really not true looking at the percentages.