Despite one of the biggest blowouts in Super Bowl history, Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XLVIII Sunday night drew an average of 111.5 million total viewers, narrowly setting a new U.S. TV record, according to Nielsen.
Sunday's 43-8 win by the Seahawks over the Broncos was the biggest margin of victory since 1993. The previous mark was 111.3 million for Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. Three of the previous four Super Bowls have now set U.S. TV records for average viewership; the only one that didn't was last year's game.
The top-rated metered markets were Kansas City, Seattle and Indianapolis. The host market, New York, posted its best rating for a Super Bowl since 1987 (50.5 rating for WNYW).
The Halftime show set records as well, with 115.3 million viewers watching Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, surpassing the record—also set in Super Bowl XLVI—of 114.0 million for Madonna. It was also up 4% over last year's show with Beyonce.
After the game, New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine combined to average an 8.9 rating with adults 18-49 and 20.3 million total viewers from 10:23-11:25 p.m. ET. The 8.9 rating was up 14% vs. last year's lead out program Elementary (which didn't air until 11:15 p.m. due to the blackout) but down slightly from Elementary's 20.8 million total viewers.
Individually, New Girl averaged an 11.1 rating in the demo and 25.8 million total viewers while Brooklyn Nine-Nine posted a 6.7 demo rating and 14.8 million total viewers.
(Photo Credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images)
