POSTED: Monday February 2nd 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUPER BOWL XLIII ON NBC DRAWS 42.1 OVERNIGHT RATING

\"These numbers confirm the power and consistency of the Super Bowl as the top property in all of television.\" - NBC\'s Ebersol

      TAMPA – Feb. 2, 2009 – Super Bowl XLIII, in which the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 and described by John Madden as a \“super Super Bowl\” and Al Michaels as \“a classic,\” earned a 42.1 overnight rating and a 65 share on NBC to put it on pace with past Super Bowls.  In 18 of the last 20 years, the Super Bowl has delivered an overnight rating of 40.0 or higher.

\“Every year, America stands still on Super Sunday and these numbers confirm the power and consistency of the Super Bowl as the top property in all of television,\” said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports and Olympics.  \“Many people doubted this match-up, but it\‘s the Super Bowl not the match-up, that draws an enormous audience.

\“We are in a great place to be in relation to last year\‘s historic and unimaginable game when an undefeated powerhouse was upset by an underdog from the country\‘s largest media market.\”

Last year\‘s game in which the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots in the game\‘s final seconds, to end the Patriots historic undefeated season earned a 44.7/66, only six percent higher than last night\‘s game.

Over the last 20 years, the average overnight rating for the Super Bowl is 42.5 with the high being 44.7 for Super Bowl XLII and the low a 39.4 for Super Bowl XXIV.

The rating peaked in the 10 p.m. ET half hour when nearly half of America\‘s television homes watched (48.0/70).  During the exciting fourth quarter viewers saw the Cardinals go ahead with just over 2 minutes left on a Kurt Warner to Larry Fitzgerald 64-yard touchdown pass followed by QB Ben Roethlisberger driving the Steelers to the game-winning touchdown to Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds to play.

LAST FOUR SUPER BOWL OVERNIGHT RATINGS:
Super Bowl XLIII        42.1/65
Super Bowl XLII 44.7/66
Super Bowl XLI  42.1/62
Super Bowl XL   42.2/62

TOP 25 MARKETS FOR SUPER BOWL XLIII:
1. Pittsburgh           53.6/79
2. Norfolk              52.6/72
3. Jacksonville         50.6/71
4. Buffalo              50.4/68
5. Richmond             49.3/67
6. Tampa                49.2/70
7. Ft. Myers            48.1/68
8. Cleveland            47.7/69
9. Phoenix              47.5/80
10. Indianapolis        47.4/65
11. Nashville           47.2/66
12. Washington D.C.     46.7/70
13. Columbus            46.5/67
14. Orlando             46.4/66
15. Memphis             46.3/63
16. Philadelphia        46.2/65
17. New Orleans 45.7/63
18. Knoxville           45.2/58
19. Baltimore           45.0/63
T20. Denver             44.7/76
T20. Las Vegas  44.7/68
T20. Greensboro 44.7/63
T23. Charlotte          44.6/63
T23. Greenville 44.6/60
25. St. Louis           44.5/69


       Members of the media can get more information about NBC Universal and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at www.nbcumv.com.

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Keywords · NBC · NFL · Super Bowl · Dick Ebersol

Name: Adam Freifeld
Organization: NBC
Email:
Phone: +1.212-664-6772

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