Counter-programming during the Super Bowl last Sunday was led by CBS on broadcast TV. The net had the most-viewed program up against the game (4.0 million viewers) with a special “60 Minutes” in the 8:00pm ET window featuring interviews with Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, singer Dolly Parton and actress Meryl Streep. On cable TV, Disney Channel led Super Bowl counter-programming with 2.3 million viewers for a block from 5:35-10:00pm featuring “High School Musical 2,” “High School Musical 3” and an episode of “Jessie.” Among sports telecasts up against the Super Bowl, an episode of “World’s Strongest Man” on ESPN from 7:30-8:00pm was the most-viewed telecast with only 266,000 viewers.
FOLLOW THE LEADER: NBC earned an 18.4 final rating (37.6 million viewers) for the season premiere of “The Voice” after the Super Bowl telecast, up 35% from a 13.6 rating (26.8 million viewers) for an episode of “Glee” on Fox following last year’s game. “The Voice” was also up 17% from an episode of “The Office” after the Steelers-Cardinals matchup in ’09, which was the last time NBC aired the Super Bowl.
| RATINGS/VIEWER TREND FOR POST-SUPER BOWL PROGRAMS |
| YR | NET | PROGRAM | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) | SUPER BOWL MATCHUP |
| '12 | NBC | "The Voice" | 18.4 | 37,611 | Giants-Patriots |
| '11 | Fox | "Glee" | 13.6 | 26,796 | Packers-Steelers |
| '10 | CBS | "Undercover Boss" | 19.1 | 38,654 | Saints-Colts |
| '09 | NBC | "The Office" | 11.6 | 22,905 | Steelers-Cardinals |
| '08 | Fox | "House" | 15.7 | 29,045 | Giants-Patriots |
| '07 | CBS | "Criminal Minds" | 15.1 | 26,314 | Colts-Bears |
| '06 | ABC | "Grey's Anatomy" | 21.0 | 37,881 | Steelers-Seahawks |
| '05 | Fox | "The Simpsons" | 13.0 | 23,074 | Patriots-Eagles |
| '04 | CBS | "Survivor All-Star" | 17.9 | 33,535 | Patriots-Panthers |
| '03 | ABC | "Alias" | 10.6 | 17,362 | Buccaneers-Raiders |
| | | | | | |
NOTES: The first-ever telecast of “NFL Honors” on NBC last Saturday night earned a 2.2 rating and 3.5 million viewers….ESPN averaged 3.2 million viewers for the Duke-North Carolina men's basketball game on Wednesday night, up from 2.4 million viewers for the teams' first matchup last year. The 3.2 million viewers is also up from ESPN's ACC Tournament Championship game last March, which averaged 2.1 million viewers for the Duke-Carolina matchup....NBC Sports Network's premiere of “Costas Tonight” on Feb. 2 earned a 0.1 rating and 142,000 viewers. By comparison, the net’s most-viewed telecast for the week ending Feb. 5 was a Rangers-Sabres game on Feb. 1….Animal Planet’s “Puppy Bowl VIII” drew a total of 3.9 million viewers for its five two-hour windows last Sunday, up from 3.8 million viewers last year and 3.1 million viewers in ’10. The first window from 3:00-5:00pm averaged 1.6 million viewers....Fox finished with a 0.8 rating and 1.4 million viewers for the EPL Chelsea-Manchester United match last Sunday, marking the second live EPL match ever on U.S. broadcast TV. While the rating for the game was flat compared to the ManU-Arsenal telecast on Jan. 22, viewership was up 9.5%. Fox also saw gains among all key male demos.
The charts below lists final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts. All ratings listed are U.S. ratings.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| Super Bowl XLVI: Giants-Patriots | 2/5 | NBC | 6:31-9:58pm | 47.0 | 111,346 |
| Super Bowl Trophy Presentation | 2/5 | NBC | 9:58-10:19pm | 33.7 | 76,803 |
| "The Voice" | 2/5 | NBC | 10:19-11:21pm | 18.4 | 37,611 |
| "Super Bowl XLVI Pregame" | 2/5 | NBC | 2:00-6:31pm | 11.1 | n/a |
| "NFL Honors" | 2/4 | NBC | 9:00-11:00pm | 2.2 | 3,524 |
PGA Tour: Waste Management
Phoenix Open: Final Round | 2/5 | CBS | 3:10-6:16pm | 2.0 | 3,069 |
PGA Tour: Waste Management
Phoenix Open: Third Round | 2/4 | CBS | 3:10-6:00pm | 1.3 | 1,940 |
| "Road to the Super Bowl" | 2/5 | NBC | 12:00-1:00pm | 1.9 | n/a |
| AKC/Eukanuba National Championship | 2/4 | ABC | 2:00-4:00pm | 1.1 | 1,655 |
NCAA Basketball:
Michigan-Michigan State | 2/5 | CBS | 1:00-3:10pm | 1.1 | 1,611 |
"Unforgettable Moments of
Love On Ice" (taped) | 2/4 | NBC | 4:00-6:00pm | 1.0 | 1,488 |
| EPL: Chelsea-Manchester United | 2/5 | Fox | 11:01am-12:54pm | 0.8 | 1,377 |
| NCAA Basketball: (regional) | 2/4 | CBS | 1:00-3:10pm | 0.9 | 1,268 |
U.S. Figure Skating
Championships (taped) | 2/4 | NBC | 2:00-4:00pm | 0.8 | 1,187 |
Monster Energy AMA
Supercross: Anaheim (taped) | 2/5 | CBS | 12:00-1:00pm | 0.8 | 1,105 |
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" | 2/4 | ABC | 5:00-6:00pm | 0.7 | n/a |
| "The Big Time: Episode 3" | 2/4 | ABC | 4:00-5:00pm | 0.6 | n/a |
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| "NFL Primetime" (post-Super Bowl) | 2/5 | ESPN | 10:14-11:16pm | 1.6 | 2,659 |
| NBA: Lakers-Nuggets | 2/3 | ESPN | 10:56pm-1:19am | 1.7 | 2,535 |
| NCAA Basketball: Kansas-Missouri | 2/4 | ESPN | 8:59-11:11pm | 1.4 | 2,432 |
| Bulls-Knicks | 2/2 | TNT | 8:00-10:38pm | 1.7 | 2,349 |
| NBA: Knicks-Celtics | 2/3 | ESPN | 8:06-10:56pm | 1.5 | 2,195 |
NCAA Basketball:
Kentucky-South Carolina | 2/4 | ESPN | 6:09-8:02pm | 1.3 | 2,163 |
NCAA Basketball:
North Carolina-Maryland | 2/4 | ESPN | 4:0-6:09pm | 1.5 | 2,119 |
| NBA: Clippers-Jazz | 2/1 | ESPN | 10:44pm-1:24am | 1.5 | 2,039 |
| NBA: Nuggets-Clippers | 2/2 | TNT | 10:38pm-1:10am | 1.4 | 1,942 |
| NBA: Thunder-Mavericks | 2/1 | ESPN | 8:00-10:44pm | 1.3 | 1,889 |
