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Game Telecast Scores High Ratings

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By WALT BELCHER

wbelcher@tampatrib.com

Published: February 3, 2009

TAMPA - NBC's telecast of Super Bowl XLIII pulled in super ratings for the network and WFLA, Channel 8, but the national overnight tally was not as high as for last year's record-setting game.

The Pittsburgh Steelers' 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday generated a 42.1 overnight rating and 65 share on NBC, according to the Nielsen Media Co.

It was a drop from last season but still solid.

Last year's matchup between the New York Giants and New England Patriots had a 44.7 overnight rating and 66 share on Fox. That was the most-watched Super Bowl of all time.

This year's ratings were stronger in the Tampa-St. Petersburg TV market, topping out at a 50 rating and 78 share of the audience during the final quarter.

Nielsen reports that more than half of the 1.8 million TV households in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market were watching the game. At its peak, the audience totaled 1,836,000 viewers about 10:15 p.m.

In the Tampa market, the game started with a respectable 40 rating and 75 share about 6:30 p.m. and quickly built to a 47 rating and 77 share.

NBC's pregame coverage also did well locally, but "The Office" postgame comedy special started with a 59 share (26 rating) about 10:30 p.m. in the Tampa market and fell to a 23 share (7 rating) by 11:30 p.m.

Nationally, "The Office" enjoyed its biggest audience ever with an estimated 29.69 million viewers.

Those numbers would fall likely once the postgame ratings are factored out of the mix.

"The Office" did better than last year's post-Super Bowl show, "House" (29.04 million). It also beat "Criminal Minds" (26.31 million) in 2007 , but did not come close to the recent winner in the slot, "Grey's Anatomy" in 2006 (37.88 million).

The Tampa-St. Petersburg area is the 13th-largest television market in the country.

Each rating point represents 1 percent of the total number of households with TVs, and the share is the percentage of TV sets in use at the time of measurement.

Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654.

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