While Green Bay captured Super Bowl XLV in dramatic fashion 31-25 over Pittsburgh, the Fox broadcast of the game became the most-watched televised program in U.S. history.
The telecast of the Packers 13th NFL championship and 4th Super Bowl win averaged 111 million viewers. It broke the record set by last year's Super Bowl by 4.5 million. It is the 6th straight year that viewership has increased for the championship contest.
Last night's game drew 13.5 million more viewers than the last Super Bowl to be broadcast on Fox in 2005.
The NFL enjoyed a spectacular season in terms of TV viewership with all of its partners having the most-viewed seasons ever. As an example, Sunday Night Football on NBC was the highest-rated program in prime time during its run, averaging almost 22 million viewers each week. This marked the first time a sports series has ranked as the most-watched show from the start of the TV season to the end of the NFL regular season. The trend continued throughout the playoffs.
NFL football is the most consistent programming winner for the broadcast networks, and only American Idol comes close.
Texas' win over USC in the 2006 is the most-watched BCS championship game ever -- and at 35.5 million viewers it was about one-third of the audience for Super Bowl XLV.