Record Ratings for Super Bowl

BURBANK: Super Bowl XLV over the weekend is now the most-watched TV program of all time, according to The Nielsen Company, delivering an average of 111 million viewers to FOX on Sunday night.

According to Nielsen, the game was viewed in 53.3 million households, with a preliminary 46 rating. This year’s ratings break the record set by last year’s Super Bowl, which generated 106.5 million viewers on CBS. That shattered the record for most-viewed program set by the series finale of M*A*S*H in 1983, which was seen by 106 million viewers.

“Super Bowl XLV caps what is arguably the most successful season that any sports league has ever had,” said Pat McDonough, Nielsen’s senior VP for insight and analysis. “The number of people watching NFL games has never been higher, with 24-percent more people watching the average NFL game this year than just five years ago. The Super Bowl continues to be in a category of its own, with an appeal that transcends sports and extends even to the commercials. Because of the cliff-hanger nature of the game, viewers were tuning in until the very end, driving viewing levels to new heights.”

FOX’s post-Super Bowl episode of Glee scored 26.8 million total viewers, its biggest audience ever and the the highest-rated scripted series telecast on any network in three years among adults 18-49 and total viewers.