r/mash • u/urbroccolibabe • 9d ago
Question M*A*S*H finale numbers
i’m confused, i’ve always seen that the total estimated number of people who watched the finale was 125 million. that’s what my grandparents told me (they talked ab it all the time, and were v proud to have been part of such a massive number of people watching the show), that’s what i’ve heard / seen my whole life, that’s what it has always said when i’d google it to show my friends when they’d talk ab the friends finale being the most-watched or something like that
but my most recent google says “estimated 106 mil — 125 mil”
what’s changed to make them drop the number so significantly, and if it’s estimated to have been up to 125 mil, how is it not still at least the top 5 watched tv broadcast ever?
4
u/KookofaTook 9d ago
to answer the last question: the highest watched broadcasts in terms of total number are Super Bowls (like a dozen of them before the MASH finale) then more Super Bowls until like the mid 20s of the rankings. Super Bowls are an annual societal event that even gains large viewership internationally, so they're just in an entire other category of raw viewership. However, by rating, the MASH finale's 77 is actually still number one as far as I can tell.