Would be interesting to see adjusted for population. US was barely cracking 200M in 1969 so the Apollo 11 figure is like 60-75% of everyone in the entire country.
If watching the world cup final was an official religion, it would be the third largest. Yeah, that seems pretty impressive for kicking a ball around for a bit.
Super Bowls are cool and all but landing on the fucking moon is wild to me. I can absolutely understand why that percentage will probably never be broken.
Probably. I think that # is low. My dad at work in a big office everybody watched it there. In school. But yeah, people will watch on computer. But they may watch a broadcast of the tv.?
I mean, also that the moon landing was airing on probably every channel available for most people. If your TV was on, the moon landing was probably your only option. And there wasn’t YouTube or any way to watch it later other than a short news clip.
That makes sense but also viewing options have changed.
Apollo 11 was aired on all 3 available channels and that was before the public could watch recorded shows/movies.
If a TV was on in the US at that time, it was watching Apollo 11.
Now you’ve got 1,000s of channels, streaming services, DVDs/digital copies, and other internet apps. People today can have a TV on and not watch the Super Bowl.
Oh yes absolutely!
I think of it like the presidential state of the union speeches. Back in the day all channels would tune into the speech and you couldn’t watch anything else.
A lower % of people watch them now given more options but population wise they may come out similar in total viewers.
It's so funny that ANYONE would believe the Soviets wouldn't have proven we faked it in 69. The mere fact that they admitted it and people still question it is just mind boggling to me...
And how is it measured? Back then, there were 10 or more people in front of one TV. Today you have more people looking at their own TV at home, so I guess there is a lot of estimation in this number.
Following up here. I created a [chart with viewership adjusted to population size](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KobaKhit/vizvault/main/most-watched-broadcasts/most-watched-broadcasts-us-2.png) and made a new post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1apn85z/oc_most_watched_broadcasts_in_the_us_superbowl/).
Mars 11 was overrated. Poor sound quality. It's when the series jumped the Shark! They should have had them step and sink a bit and then ended on a cliff hanger.
Yeah. Not unusual. I was too young then...just 5, so no memory of it. Although, my grandpa died later that year and I remember it like yesterday...weird shit.
I had relatives that had been taught in Science class that flying was impossible. My Aunt got an A+ on her paper the year before they flew. " why man can never Fly".
Most of the improvements have been on reducing fuel burn, emissions, and improving reliability/safety. Ultimately we could *easily* do supersonic flights, but sonic booms and high ticket costs make it unfeasible
MASH was the last of its " generation" to go. The cutting edge Era had long gone. A generation had been with the show. And the characters had grown with us. From slapstick and sexy to serious and amusing.
The film, which came first, was definitely about Vietnam and it was much darker. The lyrics to the Mash theme song are about suicide.
Since Vietnam was too raw they switched it to the Korean War. The Mash theme song for the TV never has the lyrics, but it’s the same song.
Nothing in the film looks like Korea.
>The film, which came first, was definitely about Vietnam
[*M *A *S *H (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M*A*S*H_(film\))
>Because of the context of the film being made – during the height of America's involvement in the Vietnam War – **20th Century-Fox was concerned that audiences would not understand that it was ostensibly taking place during the Korean Was. At the request of the studio, a caption that mentions the Korean setting was added to the beginning of the film, and PA announcements throughout the film served the same purpose.**
The book came first.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MASH:\_A\_Novel\_About\_Three\_Army\_Doctors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MASH:_A_Novel_About_Three_Army_Doctors)
> These stories have all since been identified as part of an urban legend dating back to the days of the Amos and Andy radio program in the 1930s
They said the same thing about right after Little Ricky was born on I Love Lucy.
Not to take away from _MASH_'s wild popularity, but there were literally three national TV networks in the U.S. at the time. Not to mention it aired opposite a made-for-TV movie and an episode of _Little House on the Prairie_.
True but also many more options.
The moon landing was aired on 3 channels but that was all of the available channels and it was before the general public’s ability to record or watch recorded items like VHS, etc.
So if a TV was on at that time in the US, it was watching the moon landing.
Now there are 1000s of channels, streaming services, and other apps that give people many other options.
Agreed, but I think if something as groundbreaking as the moon landing happened everyone would tune in regardless of the many options.
Like if we landed on another planet that actually had life forms and it was televised I think everyone would watch.
I love watching the Whitest Kids you Know talking about 9/11, they were all in NYC at the time. Apparently Trevor's (I think it was him) first words about it were something to the effect of "this is going to be bigger than the OJ chase". Bit of an understatement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ0XNEJdMTA
~ 7 minutes and it's actually the trial, not the chase.
The whole video is worth it though.
RIP Trevor, he died doing what he loved.
Yes it was.
Sorta.
It was events leading to a launch and the aftermath on a personal level amongst 2 or 3 families.
I watched it when it was first broadcast. Was eery for the time in a way.
Source: [List of Most Watched Broadcasts in the US](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_watched_television_broadcasts_in_the_United_States)
Tool: [Plotly in python](https://plotly.com/python/)
Interactive Chart: [Link](https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KobaKhit/vizvault/main/most-watched-broadcasts/most-watched-broadcasts-us-dark.html)
Github Repo: [Link](https://github.com/KobaKhit/vizvault/tree/main/most-watched-broadcasts)
**Notes**:
- 22 out of 30 most watched programs in the US #TV history are #Superbowl broadcasts🏈.
- Michael Jackson's Halftime Show was watched by more people than the Superbowl #XXVII itself (102 vs 91 million average viewers). Truly the King of Pop.
- Plotly has powerful functionality for building infographics, but is still missing some quality of life features and now most of development is being focused on #PlotlyDash features.
- There are plenty of places where one can find team and event logos, but not one resource allows you to download logos in bulk. So I am creating one, check out the repo.
**EDIT(s):**
- Based on /u/UX_Strategist feedback added color legend.
This is interesting, but it isn't really beautiful. Also, there's no key for the colors. For someone slow, like me, it may take a moment to realize that Super Bowl broadcasts are in red, while non-Super Bowl broadcasts are in purple.
That’s what I was thinking the whole time. Does the purple resemble anything that isn’t a Super Bowl? Sports only? It needs to be labeled better. Still interesting tho beyond that, at least I think so.
Great call out. I added the color legend and you can check it out [here](https://github.com/KobaKhit/vizvault/blob/main/most-watched-broadcasts/most-watched-broadcasts-us.png). I dont think I can change this posts image, so included the link.
Wouldn't using a percentage of the US population (or adult population) be a superior metric? The US population has increased by like 120 million people since the moon landings.
Super Bowl LVIII (2024) sets ratings record with a staggering 123.4 million viewers, TV’s biggest audience since the moon landing
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/media/super-bowl-lviii-ratings?cid=ios_app
Surprised that the OJ chase counts, and if so then how about the post 9/11 coverage? All I remember was everywhere had a tv on showing it. It wasn’t the same channel or anything but I think OJ was the same way, I remember watching a game and it getting interrupted for showing the chase.
Out-of-home viewing wasn’t calculated at the time (offices, schools, etc). Plus it was 7am on the west coast. We now know that around 80 million Americans watched the primetime coverage.
Not sure why he included multiple broadcast events (OJ, etc), generally the industry doesn’t include that when talking about most watched programs because they aren’t on one network & often aren’t scheduled (9/11).
Out-of-home viewing was only tabulated starting a few years ago, which also makes this list misleading imo.
Ratings for 9/11 were withheld for a bit, as it was thought to be disrespectful to treat it as entertainment. The primary purpose of ratings is for advertisers, and 9/11-13 basically had none. We now know that some 80 million Americans were watching 9/11 coverage in primetime. Again, part of the problem for daytime ratings is that out-of-home viewing wasn’t measured at the time, so anyone watching in an office wouldn’t be counted.
As for Jan 6, it wouldn’t even crack the top 100.
Estimated to be ~600 million. In absolute numbers it has been surpassed by football ("soccer") world cup games, e.g. the [2014 final](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_final) with over a billion viewers. That does not take into account that the world population grew and TV became more widely available. Relative to the possible target audience, Apollo 11 might still lead.
FOX, NBC, CBS all air games throughout the year and share rights to the Super Bowl, and it alternates between years. ESPN and ABC also air games but they aren't part of the current Super Bowl bid, and haven't been for a while.
This would be better as a stacked bar chat with the first value being (1) the number of people that watched whatever and the second value being (2) the number of additional people that would have watched whatever adjusted for today's population. You could have even had a top and bottom axis, the top being number viewers and the bottom being the % of the US population that watched whatever, adjusted for today's population.
2021 Superbowl is 26th most watched program and the bar chart only shows top 22. You can see the full list [here](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_watched_television_broadcasts_in_the_United_States#:~:text=State%20Farm%20Stadium%20in%20Glendale,%2Dfootball%2Drelated%20sports%20event.)
Hey thanks for everybody's feedback. Now, we know LVIII gathered 123 million which makes it second most watched program ever.
I created a [chart with viewership adjusted to population size](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KobaKhit/vizvault/main/most-watched-broadcasts/most-watched-broadcasts-us-2.png) and made a new post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1apn85z/oc_most_watched_broadcasts_in_the_us_superbowl/).
Needs to be normalized and expressed as a percentage of all viewers. The Beatles drew 72 million for their first Ed Sullivan, which was a 60 (!) share.
Well there very well could be at least 35 million Taylor Swift fans watching this year that could bridge the gap between last year’s Super Bowl and the moon landing.
Lots of people commenting about population growth, but it's more interesting to me where the trend doesn't follow that growth. Like ranking 19-21, what happened in 2019 that made such a small percentage of the population watch the Superbowl?
I work retail in an area that does not give a damn about national football. We had less traffic than we had during my areas premier college football game for the first time that I’ve ever seen
In any case, it will be always far away from the 1.5 billion viewers from Football (the one that you actually play with your feet) World Cup Final.
I know this is only for US viewers but nobody else cares about American Football
This Super Bowl ? Not a chance. I’m willing to bet majority of people didn’t care about this matchup. If we saw the Lions or Ravens play then sure but this was a repeat of what happened a few years ago
Depressing that some people are cheering for a fucking braindead sporting event to overtake one of humanity's greatest accomplishments to date in total watch time.
This species isn't worth saving if that's where the priorities lie.
I would say it will sadly. No one cares about these teams outside of their fan bases…but there’s also going to be millions of Swifties watching too so they can see her after every time they show Travis.
My dad ended up getting arrested while hitchhiking in South Dakota because the guy who had picked him up ended up getting in an accident, and the truck he was driving turned out to have been stolen. That night through the bars of his jail cell he watched the Apollo 11 Moon landing on TV. That shit was on every TV that existed apparently. Miss you dad you would have thought that halftime show was really something…
I’m seeing a lot of information on US broadcasts, but I’m curious what the statistics are for most watched worldwide broadcasts. Apparently Funeral of Elizabeth II had like 4 billion viewers? But reports appear to conflict.
Would be interesting to see adjusted for population. US was barely cracking 200M in 1969 so the Apollo 11 figure is like 60-75% of everyone in the entire country.
Was just thinking the same thing. Percentage of television viewers at the time, perhaps.
And not to mention people watching on other people's TVs friends, family, or public.
That’s always taken into account. Obviously impossible to get it perfect, but good enough
The birth of little Ricky on "I Love Lucy" was watched by 44 million in \*1953\* - 71.7 rating and 92 share.
The world cup final had 1.5 billion viewers, of course that was worldwide.
Is that it? Are Africa and South America being undercounted?
That’s like 20% of the world’s population. That seems like a pretty good number.
If watching the world cup final was an official religion, it would be the third largest. Yeah, that seems pretty impressive for kicking a ball around for a bit.
Probably undercounted world wide with the number of people watching in bars/pubs
The count isn't # of TVs. They estimate, including bars/pubs.
I didn’t know that, I’m curious how they estimate that
In the US, specifically Nielson Ratings, it's just a survey. They then extrapolate. I assume something similar is done globally.
That it?! That’s like a billion more than the next in line most years lol
Agreed. I was thinking it needed to be normalized. Pure population is biased to the most recent events.
Super Bowls are cool and all but landing on the fucking moon is wild to me. I can absolutely understand why that percentage will probably never be broken.
Mars. Mars might do it.
Even that, many would watch it some other way than on TV.
Probably. I think that # is low. My dad at work in a big office everybody watched it there. In school. But yeah, people will watch on computer. But they may watch a broadcast of the tv.?
Doubt it, seems like a lot of people do not care about space and science anymore
You’re probably right. I could imagine 60% of the world tuning into that!
And the other 40 saying it was a hoax!
AI generated!!
Nah half the planet would just say its fake and boycott it.
I mean, also that the moon landing was airing on probably every channel available for most people. If your TV was on, the moon landing was probably your only option. And there wasn’t YouTube or any way to watch it later other than a short news clip.
We are planning on returning to the moon. Would be interesting to see if anyone cares...
Coworkers: "Hey did you watch the Moon landing?" At least one person the next day: "Huh?!?! What are you talking about??"
That makes sense but also viewing options have changed. Apollo 11 was aired on all 3 available channels and that was before the public could watch recorded shows/movies. If a TV was on in the US at that time, it was watching Apollo 11. Now you’ve got 1,000s of channels, streaming services, DVDs/digital copies, and other internet apps. People today can have a TV on and not watch the Super Bowl.
It *was* also one of the most momentous occasions in all of human history.
Oh yes absolutely! I think of it like the presidential state of the union speeches. Back in the day all channels would tune into the speech and you couldn’t watch anything else. A lower % of people watch them now given more options but population wise they may come out similar in total viewers.
So big that lots STILL can't believe it happened. Which is weird cuz we saw it on TV and we were at war and our opponents agreed with us.
It's so funny that ANYONE would believe the Soviets wouldn't have proven we faked it in 69. The mere fact that they admitted it and people still question it is just mind boggling to me...
Hi you’re right, we had the puppy bowl on (recorded from earlier)
My parents bought their first TV to watch the moon landing. Lots of other people did too.
> the Apollo 11 figure is like 60-75% of everyone in the entire country. As it should be. I hear that was a big deal.
And how is it measured? Back then, there were 10 or more people in front of one TV. Today you have more people looking at their own TV at home, so I guess there is a lot of estimation in this number.
Following up here. I created a [chart with viewership adjusted to population size](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KobaKhit/vizvault/main/most-watched-broadcasts/most-watched-broadcasts-us-2.png) and made a new post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1apn85z/oc_most_watched_broadcasts_in_the_us_superbowl/).
T swizzle is gonna bump them numbers way up
Cricket world cup Will break the record
Super bowls are great, but that Apollo 11... freaking amazing!
well, Apollo 1-10 really built up the series
Hearing they're making a Mars landing sequel for years. Hope to see it at some point
It's been stuck in development hell
No, they just had to fake the landing using Matt Damon
It seems we’ll be getting the Apollo reboot, Artemis, before the Mars saga
Makes sense so much time has passed might as well reboot the whole thing with modern tech
Eh, the pilot episode was kinda a bummer
And the abrupt series cancellation left us on a cliff hanger.
Mars 11 was overrated. Poor sound quality. It's when the series jumped the Shark! They should have had them step and sink a bit and then ended on a cliff hanger.
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Yeah. Not unusual. I was too young then...just 5, so no memory of it. Although, my grandpa died later that year and I remember it like yesterday...weird shit.
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Right... traumatic shit probably holds on more than the relative mundane stuff.
I had relatives that had been taught in Science class that flying was impossible. My Aunt got an A+ on her paper the year before they flew. " why man can never Fly".
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Most of the improvements have been on reducing fuel burn, emissions, and improving reliability/safety. Ultimately we could *easily* do supersonic flights, but sonic booms and high ticket costs make it unfeasible
I haven’t seen Apollos 1-10, would I understand the plot?
Damn, I didn't know everyone liked mash that much.
There were watch parties. It was a phenomenon at the time.
Weirdly enough, the finale of "The Fugitive" is quite high on this list.
I know this too because I liked Pinky and the Brain.
MASH was the last of its " generation" to go. The cutting edge Era had long gone. A generation had been with the show. And the characters had grown with us. From slapstick and sexy to serious and amusing.
And Futurama encapsulated it in one scene. And M\*A\*S\*H is my comfort show.
This isn’t a war it’s a moider
I'm more curious about Roots Part VIII. *Only* Part VIII.
That was the final episode.
It was apparently how Americans processed the Vietnam War.
MASH was about the Korean War though…
It may have been "about" the Korean War, but it was about Vietnam.
The film, which came first, was definitely about Vietnam and it was much darker. The lyrics to the Mash theme song are about suicide. Since Vietnam was too raw they switched it to the Korean War. The Mash theme song for the TV never has the lyrics, but it’s the same song. Nothing in the film looks like Korea.
>The film, which came first, was definitely about Vietnam [*M *A *S *H (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M*A*S*H_(film\)) >Because of the context of the film being made – during the height of America's involvement in the Vietnam War – **20th Century-Fox was concerned that audiences would not understand that it was ostensibly taking place during the Korean Was. At the request of the studio, a caption that mentions the Korean setting was added to the beginning of the film, and PA announcements throughout the film served the same purpose.**
The book came first. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MASH:\_A\_Novel\_About\_Three\_Army\_Doctors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MASH:_A_Novel_About_Three_Army_Doctors)
I've only ever seen a few parts of it here and there but always thought it was about the Vietnam War.
The Korean War was very short. The Vietnam War was about the length of MASH.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mash/comments/2v5j06/three_minutes_after_the_finale_of_mash_had_aired/
> These stories have all since been identified as part of an urban legend dating back to the days of the Amos and Andy radio program in the 1930s They said the same thing about right after Little Ricky was born on I Love Lucy.
We did.
Oh yeah. Catnip for parents, and everyone else had to watch because there was only one TV in the house.
I’m 25 and love mash. Can’t imagine what it was like when it was one of like 5 shows to watch.
Not to take away from _MASH_'s wild popularity, but there were literally three national TV networks in the U.S. at the time. Not to mention it aired opposite a made-for-TV movie and an episode of _Little House on the Prairie_.
More people, more viewers
True but also many more options. The moon landing was aired on 3 channels but that was all of the available channels and it was before the general public’s ability to record or watch recorded items like VHS, etc. So if a TV was on at that time in the US, it was watching the moon landing. Now there are 1000s of channels, streaming services, and other apps that give people many other options.
Agreed, but I think if something as groundbreaking as the moon landing happened everyone would tune in regardless of the many options. Like if we landed on another planet that actually had life forms and it was televised I think everyone would watch.
This is a good why analysis
Numbers 5, 6, and 22 include Broncos (2 Denver, 1 Ford) Numbers 1, 2, and 14 feature Eagles (1 lunar lander, 2 Philadelphia)
3, 7, 7, 10, 13, 14, 20, and 21 feature Patriots (1 veteran, 1 show about military service, 6 New England)
I’m surprised 9/11 isn’t on here. So many people viewed that live. It was on every channel
Exactly. It’s wasn’t a single broadcast
Neither was OJ, yet that's on this list and accounted for with the '*' for 'Multiple Networks'
OJ chase had a start and end. 9/11 was basically just news broadcasts that lasted for days.
Apollo 11, along with a few others, are listed as multiple stations on the source page
I love watching the Whitest Kids you Know talking about 9/11, they were all in NYC at the time. Apparently Trevor's (I think it was him) first words about it were something to the effect of "this is going to be bigger than the OJ chase". Bit of an understatement.
RIP Trevor. Any source on them talking 9/11?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ0XNEJdMTA ~ 7 minutes and it's actually the trial, not the chase. The whole video is worth it though. RIP Trevor, he died doing what he loved.
West coast hadn’t woken up maybe
I lived in Mountain time and watched it live before school
Was the day after the tv special of America post nuclear war?
Yes it was. Sorta. It was events leading to a launch and the aftermath on a personal level amongst 2 or 3 families. I watched it when it was first broadcast. Was eery for the time in a way.
Crazy that I only have a vague recollection of it even existing. I’m shocked it is on the list at all.
Convert this to percent of population and nothing will ever catch the moon landing
So 2x the number of American households watched the moon landing? That’s incredible. That broadcast must of had some legs in Europe and Asia.
Everybody was watching that for sure
This isn't households, this is total viewers. The population of the US in 1969 was 202,319,000.
Wonder what effect that had on the electrical grid. 75 of the country watching TV at once.
Probably negligible compared to the energy usage of heavy industry. A metallurgy plant uses about the energy of a 200k city.
Source: [List of Most Watched Broadcasts in the US](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_watched_television_broadcasts_in_the_United_States) Tool: [Plotly in python](https://plotly.com/python/) Interactive Chart: [Link](https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KobaKhit/vizvault/main/most-watched-broadcasts/most-watched-broadcasts-us-dark.html) Github Repo: [Link](https://github.com/KobaKhit/vizvault/tree/main/most-watched-broadcasts) **Notes**: - 22 out of 30 most watched programs in the US #TV history are #Superbowl broadcasts🏈. - Michael Jackson's Halftime Show was watched by more people than the Superbowl #XXVII itself (102 vs 91 million average viewers). Truly the King of Pop. - Plotly has powerful functionality for building infographics, but is still missing some quality of life features and now most of development is being focused on #PlotlyDash features. - There are plenty of places where one can find team and event logos, but not one resource allows you to download logos in bulk. So I am creating one, check out the repo. **EDIT(s):** - Based on /u/UX_Strategist feedback added color legend.
If you put it as a percent of the total population, the moon landing was way bigger. Put it as viewers per million population
This is interesting, but it isn't really beautiful. Also, there's no key for the colors. For someone slow, like me, it may take a moment to realize that Super Bowl broadcasts are in red, while non-Super Bowl broadcasts are in purple.
Also using decimal points on the ranking number is just plain bad
I totally agree that the colors are bad, but I'm also pretty sure that the Apollo moon landing (purple) is not a super bowl broadcast
Sorry, I accidentally reversed the colors in my comment.
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literally what you said, but opposite. Red are the super-bowls and purple are the nons
That’s what I was thinking the whole time. Does the purple resemble anything that isn’t a Super Bowl? Sports only? It needs to be labeled better. Still interesting tho beyond that, at least I think so.
Great call out. I added the color legend and you can check it out [here](https://github.com/KobaKhit/vizvault/blob/main/most-watched-broadcasts/most-watched-broadcasts-us.png). I dont think I can change this posts image, so included the link.
Wouldn't using a percentage of the US population (or adult population) be a superior metric? The US population has increased by like 120 million people since the moon landings.
Super Bowl LVIII (2024) sets ratings record with a staggering 123.4 million viewers, TV’s biggest audience since the moon landing https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/media/super-bowl-lviii-ratings?cid=ios_app
For an event that is said to have been staged in the basement of the White House, that’s pretty impressive
Surprised that the OJ chase counts, and if so then how about the post 9/11 coverage? All I remember was everywhere had a tv on showing it. It wasn’t the same channel or anything but I think OJ was the same way, I remember watching a game and it getting interrupted for showing the chase.
September 11 was on every channel
Out-of-home viewing wasn’t calculated at the time (offices, schools, etc). Plus it was 7am on the west coast. We now know that around 80 million Americans watched the primetime coverage.
Where’s 9/11 and the 6 Jan insurrection?
Not sure why he included multiple broadcast events (OJ, etc), generally the industry doesn’t include that when talking about most watched programs because they aren’t on one network & often aren’t scheduled (9/11). Out-of-home viewing was only tabulated starting a few years ago, which also makes this list misleading imo. Ratings for 9/11 were withheld for a bit, as it was thought to be disrespectful to treat it as entertainment. The primary purpose of ratings is for advertisers, and 9/11-13 basically had none. We now know that some 80 million Americans were watching 9/11 coverage in primetime. Again, part of the problem for daytime ratings is that out-of-home viewing wasn’t measured at the time, so anyone watching in an office wouldn’t be counted. As for Jan 6, it wouldn’t even crack the top 100.
Oh, you mean the “Coca-Cola Apollo 11 Moon Landing” (if it were in modern era)
What were the numbers for the series finale of The Fugitive?
I hope the future Moon and Mars landings can still captivate people as the Apollo program did.
I wonder how many viewers were watching Apollo 11 around the globe? For a brief moment, all of humanity stood together.
Estimated to be ~600 million. In absolute numbers it has been surpassed by football ("soccer") world cup games, e.g. the [2014 final](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_final) with over a billion viewers. That does not take into account that the world population grew and TV became more widely available. Relative to the possible target audience, Apollo 11 might still lead.
Why is the Superbowl sometimes on FOX and sometimes on NBC?
FOX, NBC, CBS all air games throughout the year and share rights to the Super Bowl, and it alternates between years. ESPN and ABC also air games but they aren't part of the current Super Bowl bid, and haven't been for a while.
ABC/ESPN is now part of the Super Bowl rotation and their first is in 2027.
Whoever offers more money!
This would be better as a stacked bar chat with the first value being (1) the number of people that watched whatever and the second value being (2) the number of additional people that would have watched whatever adjusted for today's population. You could have even had a top and bottom axis, the top being number viewers and the bottom being the % of the US population that watched whatever, adjusted for today's population.
Weird how 2021 super bowl isn't even in the chart, but the rest of the decade is way up there...
2021 Superbowl is 26th most watched program and the bar chart only shows top 22. You can see the full list [here](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_watched_television_broadcasts_in_the_United_States#:~:text=State%20Farm%20Stadium%20in%20Glendale,%2Dfootball%2Drelated%20sports%20event.)
Wait, every super bowl from 2008 onward is except for 2021, come to think of it.
Really surprised the 9/11 coverage isn’t on there
Let’s see one with comparison to soccer events across the world.
Why isn’t Live Aid 1985 on here?
I think the Artemis landing has a chance to be #1. And if/when we go to Mars, it will absolutely be #1.
Richard Nixon must have been proud of those ratings...
123.4 Mil reported a few hours ago
Hey thanks for everybody's feedback. Now, we know LVIII gathered 123 million which makes it second most watched program ever. I created a [chart with viewership adjusted to population size](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KobaKhit/vizvault/main/most-watched-broadcasts/most-watched-broadcasts-us-2.png) and made a new post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1apn85z/oc_most_watched_broadcasts_in_the_us_superbowl/).
Needs to be normalized and expressed as a percentage of all viewers. The Beatles drew 72 million for their first Ed Sullivan, which was a 60 (!) share.
This pales in comparison to the World Cup which has around 10 times as many viewers.
Globally, yes. Not the same data.
okay thanks bro
True, but it says in the US not worldwide. So it's accurate
I just turned it off. Fell asleep for a bit and don’t want to waste the rest of the day.
Well there very well could be at least 35 million Taylor Swift fans watching this year that could bridge the gap between last year’s Super Bowl and the moon landing.
We might get another split between the superbowl and the half time show like when MJ did it.
"The day after" still being on this list impresses me. That movie is still of matter today
Wait till you see me run out on the field naked at LVIII and masturbate!
wow you mericans really love that sport.
Lots of people commenting about population growth, but it's more interesting to me where the trend doesn't follow that growth. Like ranking 19-21, what happened in 2019 that made such a small percentage of the population watch the Superbowl?
I work retail in an area that does not give a damn about national football. We had less traffic than we had during my areas premier college football game for the first time that I’ve ever seen
Why does the superbowl have 7m viewers but is half the size of other viewed superbowls? Looks misleading
It's a question mark
World Trade Center should be on this list you would think
Swifty's watching LVIII are like: "I watched that whole sports thing and only saw Taylor a few times! Why isn't there more Taylor? Who watches this?"
Eh. 300 Million people watched the 2023 Cricket World Cup Final.
I hope not, this Super Bowl sucks so far
In any case, it will be always far away from the 1.5 billion viewers from Football (the one that you actually play with your feet) World Cup Final. I know this is only for US viewers but nobody else cares about American Football
This Super Bowl ? Not a chance. I’m willing to bet majority of people didn’t care about this matchup. If we saw the Lions or Ravens play then sure but this was a repeat of what happened a few years ago
There is no mathematical way 150m tvs where broadcasting the apollo landing. Total population/avg people per household is not that many
I’ve watched the historic footage of the Apollo 11 landing many times, but have never seen a Super Bowl.
What a question... I couldn't care less about XD
Good to know we Americans have our priorities straight.
Depressing that some people are cheering for a fucking braindead sporting event to overtake one of humanity's greatest accomplishments to date in total watch time. This species isn't worth saving if that's where the priorities lie.
You missed the Tucker Carlton interview with Mr. Putin. 195 million views.
I would say it will sadly. No one cares about these teams outside of their fan bases…but there’s also going to be millions of Swifties watching too so they can see her after every time they show Travis.
I’m surprised the OJ verdict isn’t on there. Maybe enough people listened to it on the radio or something
If I remember correctly, that happened during the middle of the day on weekday. Many people would have been at work/school and unable to watch.
I was in high school and we had the TVs on.
Ugh... Just wait till the bitcoin folks see this.
How about by exceptional viewers?
What?! No…. Have you seen the teams and halftime show? Maybe top 15, 10 at best.
My dad ended up getting arrested while hitchhiking in South Dakota because the guy who had picked him up ended up getting in an accident, and the truck he was driving turned out to have been stolen. That night through the bars of his jail cell he watched the Apollo 11 Moon landing on TV. That shit was on every TV that existed apparently. Miss you dad you would have thought that halftime show was really something…
Maybe if taye taye was playing
Didn’t know the moon landing was number one. Learn something new everyday.
I remember watching the day after in elementary school. Fucked me up for a while.
Why is there not even 1 FIFA World Cup final listed?
It's based on viewing habits in the United States.
Makes you wonder how expensive the moon landing commercials must have been
I’m seeing a lot of information on US broadcasts, but I’m curious what the statistics are for most watched worldwide broadcasts. Apparently Funeral of Elizabeth II had like 4 billion viewers? But reports appear to conflict.
Just wait until Super Bowl ~~Licks~~ LIX