TV Ratings : Surprise! Super Bowl Tops the Chart

NBC’s coverage of the NFL championship Sunday registered only the 10th best Super Bowl ratings since the game began in 1967. But because the U.S. population has continued to grow, the number of homes represented by a rating point has increased over the years. And so it was Tuesday that figures from the A. C. Nielsen Co. showed that Dallas’ victory over Buffalo was seen in about 42 million homes--more than any previous game. NBC proclaimed that the total U.S. viewership was 133.4 million people--the largest audience ever to watch a single TV broadcast.

* With a Super Bowl lead-in, the debut of “Homicide: Life on the Streets” was seen in about 16.7 million homes and ranked No. 6 among the week’s 96 prime-time programs.

TV Ratings

Points Share 1. “Super Bowl” (NBC) 45.1 66 2. “Super Bowl Post Game” (NBC) 32.2 49 3. “American Music Awards” (ABC) 21.6 33 4. “Roseanne” (ABC) 21.5 33 5. “Home Improvement” (ABC) 18.0 27 * “Homicide” (NBC) 17.9 31

Complete list, F11 (Each rating point represents 931,000 homes. Share is the percentage of viewing audience.)