Game’s National TV Rating One of Lowest

Sunday’s game between the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons, which was essentially over early in the second half, drew one of the worst Super Bowl TV ratings.

Fox’s 3-hour 20-minute telecast of Denver’s 34-19 victory got a 40.2 national rating, the lowest since 1990, and a 61 share, which matched the lowest for the Super Bowl.

San Francisco’s 55-10 victory over Denver in 1990 drew a 39.0, which was the lowest since Super Bowl III in 1969 got a 36.0. Washington’s 37-24 victory over Buffalo in 1992 also posted a 61 share.

In Los Angeles, the game drew a 40.0 rating with a 66 share, the lowest L.A. rating for a Super Bowl since the 1992 game drew a 35.2 and a 59 share.

As usual, the game posted its highest ratings in the markets of the two teams. Atlanta was the top draw with a 58.2/79, while Denver was second, with a 51.6/83.

The 40.2 national rating was down 9% from the 44.5 for last year’s Denver-Green Bay game on NBC. The L.A. rating last year was a 43.5.

Still the estimated 127 million viewers for this year’s game made it the sixth most-watched program in U.S. television history. The 1996 Super Bowl between Dallas and Pittsburgh was the most-watched program with more than 138 million viewers.

The rating is the percentage of TV households in the nation tuned to a program, and each point represents 994,000 homes. (An L.A. rating point represents about 50,000 homes). The share is the percentage tuned to a program among those televisions on at the time.