The Super Bowl pregame show earned numbers comparable to some of the biggest events in sports.
FOX earned a 12.2 overnight rating for Sunday’s Super Bowl XLV pregame show, up 13% from last year (10.8, CBS). According to the network, this marks the highest overnight for the pregame in eight years.
Not surprisingly, the pregame peaked during the half-hour before the game started, earning a massive 33.3 overnight from 6-6:30 PM ET.
During the 4 PM ET hour, which featured President Obama‘s interview with Bill O’Reilly, the pregame drew an 8.5.
For some perspective, the Super Bowl pregame show drew a higher overnight than every game of the 2010 World Series, four of the seven games of the 2010 NBA Finals, all but one game of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, and four of the five games of the 2011 Bowl Championship Series.
(FOX press release via TV By the Numbers)
