No Super TV Ratings

Although Sunday’s down-to-the-wire game was one of the most exciting Super Bowls, it didn’t get a super rating.

Fox’s telecast of the New England Patriots’ 20-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams got a 40.4 national rating and a 61 share, the same numbers as last year’s game on CBS, in which the Baltimore Ravens routed the New York Giants, 34-7.

Nationally, only the 1999 Super Bowl, with a 40.2 on Fox, and the 1992 game, with a 40.3 on CBS, drew lower ratings than Sunday’s game. But the proliferation of cable and the Internet has dramatically affected TV ratings.

The 2000 Super Bowl on ABC drew a 43.2 rating.

However, the estimated U.S. audience of 131.7 million Sunday is about 500,000 more than last year and is the fifth-highest total for a program--sports or otherwise--in television history. The top 10 shows on that list are Super Bowls.

In Los Angeles, the game got a 36.4 rating and a 61 share. Super Bowl pregame coverage in L.A. got an 8.8 from noon to 2 p.m., a 14.7 from 2-2:30, a 17.3 from 2:30-3, and a 28.0 from 3 p.m. until kickoff.

The Lakers’ game at Dallas on Channel 4 at 11:30 a.m. got a 7.9 and an 18 share in L.A.

Viewership was high throughout Fox’s game telecast Sunday, including a 38.3 rating for a halftime show featuring U2. That’s nearly seven times the 5.6 rating NBC got for its attempt at halftime counter-programming, a special edition of “Fear Factor” featuring Playboy playmates.

The audience--which advertisers paid Fox an average of just under $2 million per 30-second commercial to reach--increased every 30 minutes from kickoff until a slight dip at the start of halftime. The numbers then increased again straight through to the final play, Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal.

The national rating peaked at 43.6 from 6:30-7 p.m.

Not surprisingly, Boston was the major market with the largest rating, a 56.1, followed by St. Louis at 52.4. The rating in Chicago was a 45.1, New York a 37.6.

The show that followed the game on Fox, “Malcolm in the Middle,” drew an 11.5 rating and 21 share--70% above its average.

The San Jose digital video recorder company TiVo monitored the viewing habits of 10,000 of its 280,000 subscribers and found viewers replayed the Britney Spears Pepsi commercials more than anything else.

Of the game action, the winning field goal got the most replay attention.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.