Super Bowl XLVI is Most Watched Telecast in History

NBC is cheering right along with Eli Manning.

NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday goes into the record books as the most-watched Super Bowl ever and most-viewed telecast in U.S. television history, with an average 111.346 million viewers overall.   It beats the past two Super Bowls, the 2010 game between New Orleans and Indianapolis and the 1983 finale of “M-A-S-H”, as the only TV programs to reach more than 100 million viewers in U.S. history.

NBC Sports’ coverage of the game itself, the post-game show and The Voice, which followed, were the #1, #2 and #3 programs of the week respectively in all key ratings measures.

With a 7.7 rating for the week in adults 18-49, this marks NBC’s highest-rated week in primetime’s key demographic since the week of January 26-February 1, 2009, the week of Super Bowl XLIII. And, with an average 21.4 million viewers for the week, it is NBC’s top week by that measure since the week of February 15-21, 2010 when it broadcast the Vancouver Olympics.

Primetime averages for the week of January 30-February 5 in adults 18-49 were NBC (7.7/20), Fox (2.4/6), CBS (1.8/5), ABC (1.5/4) and CW (0.7/2). In overall total viewers the weekly averages were NBC (21.4 million), CBS (8.4 million), Fox (6.8 million), ABC (5.1 million) and CW (1.6 million).