Super Bowl Sunday was a huge success as expected, according to the TV ratings for the main event. In what has now been recorded as the most-watched telecast (and single programme) in American TV history, as an average of 111 million (a Nielsen share of 47.9%, and a market share of 69%) viewers saw the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to win Super Bowl XLV, and their 13th ’world title’ in the NFL.

Sunday’s game in Texas marked a 5% rise on the previous record set by last year’s Super Bowl at 106 million. The peak for viewership for the event came near the end of the game itself with 117.2 million viewers, while the lowpoint of 110.2 million came during the half-time show, which was a performance from the Black Eyed Peas.

Host network Fox also had a boom for their shows which were aired before and after coverage of the event. Huge audience figures also came in the cities of the participating teams (Pittsburgh and Milwaukee (nearest to Green Bay)) with a combined average of 86% market shares in those locations.

The totals also beat the outright US telecast record of 106 million viewers, set in 1983 by the final episode of M*A*S*H. With so many viewers on host broadcaster Fox, it is not much of a shock to learn that the cost of a famed ‘Super Bowl commercial’ was priced at $3M for a 30-second slot.

The total viewer numbers of the event, which include the fans in the stadium, official fanparks just outside Cowboys Stadium (which fans paid $200 a ticket for), and groups watching in bars and public screenings, is said to be around 163 million, an increase from a total of 153.4 million during last year’s Saints-Colts showpiece.

Meanwhile, for an event in the near-exclusively American sport, american football, of the rest of the world naturally does not quite share the enthusiasm that Americans have for one of their national treasures, but viewing figures were still good for other countries, with the UK leading the way outside of North America with over 1 million tuning in to see the late-night showdown on BBC One indicating more publicity for the league after their annual ‘International Series’ fixture in London. Germany (which was a key market for the short-lived former NFL Europe (a spin-off league)) saw an average of 970,000 on ARD, while 300,000 French viewers tuned into the game on W9.

The rest of the world only really seems to take a passing interest american football when the Super Bowl comes around, and despite the NFL’s efforts, this is very unlikely to change in times other than the big event, but the spectacle of the Super Bowl is continuing to be America’s #1 TV event of the year.

Hi everyone my name is Kelly from the UK. Please let me know what you think of my posts by leaving a comment (or 2)

Kelly

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