Super Bowl Rating Up Nationally, Down in L.A.

The Super Bowl got a 43.2 national TV rating Sunday on ABC, a 7% increase over the 40.2 for the 1999 game on Fox.

But in Los Angeles, the rating for the St. Louis Rams’ 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans was a 37.8, a 5% decrease from the 40.0 L.A. rating for the 1999 game between Denver and Atlanta.

However, the share here was a 64, which is higher than the national share of 62. That’s because the game was on earlier on the West Coast, when fewer people were watching television in general.

The share represents the percentage of households where television is being watched. The rating represents the percentage of all television households, whether a TV is turned on or not.

The L.A. rating of 37.8, although sizable, continues a downward trend for NFL ratings in general. The 37.8 is the lowest Super Bowl L.A. rating since a 35.2 for the 1992 game, when the Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills, 37-24.

Meanwhile, St. Louis got the highest rating for Sunday’s game, a 55.6 with a 78 share. When the Los Angeles Rams were in the Super Bowl in 1980, the L.A. rating was a 56 with an 84 share.

Nashville drew a 50.3 rating with a 67 share for Sunday’s game and Houston, former home of the Titans, a 47.0/67.

The national rating of 43.2--it peaked at 46.9 at the end of the game--was the 19th highest in the 34-game history of the Super Bowl. The audience was estimated at 130,745,000, up from 127.5 million for the 1999 game.

Sunday’s game was the fifth most-watched telecast in U.S. history, trailing four other Super Bowls. The No. 1 most-watched program was the 1996 Super Bowl between Dallas and Pittsburgh (138.5 million).

Sunday’s game pushed the final episode of “M*A*S*H,” broadcast by CBS on Feb. 28, 1983, and watched by 121.6 million, out of the top 10 list, which now includes nine Super Bowls and the women’s skating final of the 1994 Winter Olympics.

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Super Comparison

Comparing the Super Bowl ratings:

Rating Super Bowl, Site, TV

1. 49.1 XVI (‘82), Pontiac, Mich. CBS

* San Francisco d. Cincinnati, 26-21

2. 48.6 XVII (‘83), Rose Bowl NBC

* Washington d. Miami, 27-17

3. 48.3 XX (‘86), New Orleans NBC

* Chicago d. New England, 46-10

4. 47.2 XII (‘78), New Orleans CBS

* Dallas d. Denver, 27-10

5. 47.1 XIII (‘79), Miami NBC

* Pittsburgh d. Dallas, 35-31

6. 46.4 XVIII (‘84), Tampa, Fla. CBS

* Raiders d. Washington, 38-9

7. 46.4 XIX (‘85), Palo Alto ABC

* San Francisco d. Miami, 38-16

8. 46.3 XIV (‘80), Rose Bowl CBS

* Pittsburgh d. Los Angeles, 31-19

9. 46.1 XXX (‘96), Tempe, Ariz. NBC

* Dallas d. Pittsburgh, 27-17

10. 45.8 XXI (‘87), Rose Bowl CBS

* New York Giants d. Denver, 39-20

OTHER GAMES

19. 43.2 XXXIV (2000), Atlanta ABC

* St. Louis d. Tennessee, 23-16

28. 40.2 XXXIII (‘99), Miami Fox

* Denver d. Atlanta, 34-19