Super Bowl numbers not that super

Much has been made in the past few days about the viewership for Sunday's Super Bowl. About how the Saints' victory over the Colts became the most-watched program in American television history.

Yes, the telecast did edge out the series finale of "M*A*S*H," which has held that title for almost 27 years. It did so by the narrowest of margins — less than 0.5 percent (an average of 106.5 million to 105.97 million).

But (and you knew there would be a "but" here), this isn't as clear-cut as it might seem. It's easy to argue that the "M*A*S*H" numbers are more impressive. And, for that matter, that the numbers from Super Bowl XLIV are not even the best Super Bowl numbers ever.

When the final episode of "M*A*S*H" — more precisely, when the TV movie that ended the series — aired on Feb. 28, 1983, there were approximately 75 million fewer Americans than there are today. (That's according to the Census Bureau.) And a far smaller percentage of Americans watched the Saints beat the Colts game than watched Hawkeye, B.J., Margaret, Klinger and Col. Potter say goodbye.

During Super Bowl XLIV, an average of 45 percent of the homes in America tuned in; the "M*A*S*H" finale averaged 60 percent.

Not even close.

The fact is that the most recent game isn't even No. 1 on the Super Bowl list. Heck, it isn't even in the top 10.

The New Orleans-Indianapolis showdown is No. 13 on the all-time list of Super Bowl ratings.

Remember, a TV rating point represents 1 percent of the households in America. And the number of households in America has steadily grown since the first Super Bowl back in 1967.

(The highest-rated Super Bowl of all time remains San Francisco's 1982 victory over Cincinnati — 49.1.)

There's even a bit of an asterisk attached to the numbers for the Saints-Colts game. An asterisk provided by Mother Nature.

There's no way to quantify this, but the Snowmageddon that struck much of the country last weekend undoubtedly inflated the Super Bowl numbers. For one thing, more people were trapped at home — and there wasn't much on TV other than the game.

For another, people were unable to travel to friends' houses to watch the game. So instead of one household with the game turned on, there would have been three or four or more in some cases.

Perhaps most importantly, fans were unable to travel to sports bars to watch the game. And for all of its state-of-the-art technology and math wizardry, the Nielsen Co. doesn't measure out-of-home viewing like that.

The bottom line here is that all national TV ratings are guestimates. So, while CBS is thrilled with the numbers, the rest of us shouldn't take them too seriously.

e-mail: pierce@desnews.com