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List of most watched television broadcasts in the United States

The following is the list of most watched television broadcasts in the United States by average viewership, according to Nielsen. Of the 30 most-watched telecasts, 27 are Super Bowls. The Apollo 11 moon landing is generally considered to have been the most watched event in American television history with an estimated viewership of between 125 and 150 million viewers.[1] However, the Apollo 11 moon landing is considered a news event and not a telecast, as the major networks each produced their own coverage of the event. As a result, CBS's live telecast of Super Bowl LVIII in 2024 holds the record for the largest average viewership of any live network U.S. television broadcast, with 123.7 million viewers.[2]

Most-watched broadcasts of all time

Average viewership

Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, was the site of Super Bowl LVIII, the most-watched broadcast in American television history.

The Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, is reported to have been watched by 125–150 million people.[3] This figure has not been substantiated by Nielsen Media Research, which has only published figures for the moon landing based on household viewership.[4][5]

Excluding Super Bowls

Series by year

The highest-rated broadcasts of all time

The highest-rated broadcast of all time is the final episode of M*A*S*H in 1983, with 60.2% of all households with television sets in the United States at that time watching the episode.[96][97] Aside from Super Bowls, the most recent broadcast to receive a rating above 40 was the Seinfeld finale in 1998, with a 41.3.[98][99]

Nielsen only began recording a list of ratings for individual broadcasts starting in July 1960, therefore ratings before that time are not included in their official count.[100]

Timeline

The following is a timeline of the highest rated television broadcasts since December 17, 1960.[96][97][101]

Timeline of the highest rated television broadcasts
M*A*S*H (TV series)Dallas (1978 TV series)Roots (1977 miniseries)NBC Sunday Night MovieBob Hope television specialsThe Fugitive (1963 TV series)The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Beverly HillbilliesThe Beverly HillbilliesMiss America 1961Gunsmoke#Television series (1955–1975) and TV movies

Series by year

The following is a list of the highest rated television series by year.[102][103]


See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b During the 1994–1995 television season, ABC's Home Improvement was watched by the most viewers (32.50 million), while NBC's Seinfeld was watched by the most households (19.56 million).[54][55]
  2. ^ NBC Sunday Night Football aired three broadcasts before the official start of 2012–2013 television season which are not counted in the rankings. If these broadcasts were counted, NBC Sunday Night Football would average 21.44 million viewers—more than NCIS.[79]

References

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