NBC Rides Broncos-Packers Game to Super Win

Super ratings for the Super Bowl on Sunday sent NBC soaring in the seasonal standings against CBS, ABC and Fox, solidifying the network’s bid to win the prime-time championship for the third year in a row.

NBC said Super Bowl XXXII, in which the John Elway-led Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers, 31-24, tied with Super Bowl XXVII as the third most-watched TV program in history, with an estimated 133.4 million viewers watching at least part of the football game. They trail Super Bowl XXX with 138.4 million viewers and Super Bowl XXVIII with 134.8 million.

According to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research, NBC also did well elsewhere last week, posting winning numbers with its Tuesday and Thursday lineups and two nights of figure skating.

Fox, meanwhile, said “Ally McBeal” scored its best ratings ever last week in the wake of being named best comedy at the Golden Globe Awards. It ranked No. 25 overall.

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Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

Last Week

NBC: 27.26 million

ABC: 10.74

CBS: 10.34

FOX: 9.96

WB: 5.05

UPN: 3.86

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Season to Date

NBC: 15.71 million

CBS: 13.45

ABC: 12.86

FOX: 10.66

WB: 4.36

UPN: 4.30

Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching.

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Program Station Households 1. Super Bowl XXXII KNBC 2,179,015 2. Super Bowl Post-Game KNBC 1,587,926 3. 3rd Rock From the Sun (Sun.) KNBC 941,735 4. Seinfeld KNBC 911,680 5. Friends KNBC 731,348 6. ER KNBC 711,311 7. Frasier KNBC 706,301 8. NYPD Blue KABC 676,246 9. The X-Files KTTV 656,209 10. Roggin’s Sports Bowl KNBC 646,191

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