UPDATE (11:01 AM PST): Super Bowl Ratings Set A Record

UPDATE: 11:01 AM PST:

The New York Giants’ thrilling win over the New England Patriots was
the most-watched Super Bowl ever, with 97.5 million viewers, Nielsen
Media Research said Monday.

The game eclipsed the previous Super
Bowl record of 94.08 million, set when Dallas defeated Pittsburgh in
1996. More people watched Sunday’s game than all but one American
television broadcast ever, the “M-A-S-H” finale in 1983, which was seen
by 106 million viewers.

The game had almost all the ingredients
Fox could have hoped for: a tight contest with an exciting finish
involving a team that was attempting to make history as the NFL’s first
unbeaten team since 1972.

But the Giants ended New England’s bid
for perfection, 17-14. Throughout the game, the teams were never
separated by more than a touchdown.

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Very preliminary findings from 49 of the nation’s biggest markets showed that ratings for this year’s Super Bowl, with the New York Giants’ thrilling win over the New England Patriots, were up 6 percent over last year’s big game, according to Nielsen Media Research on Monday.

Experts say those numbers indicate the game has a strong shot at being the most-watched Super Bowl of all time, and the second most-watched broadcast ever.

The game, broadcast on Fox, had a 44.7 rating and 66 share, Nielsen said. That’s up from the 42.0 rating and 63 share in metered markets last year. Nielsen did not immediately have an estimate of how many people watched the game.

The metered market average this year was also missing Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Dallas due to Nielsen delays.

The most-watched telecast of all time was the 1983 finale of “M-A-S-H,” seen by 106 million people. The most-watched Super Bowl ever was the 1996 game between Dallas and Pittsburgh, with 94.1 million people.

Last year’s game between Indianapolis and Chicago was seen by 93.2 million people, Nielsen said.

Fox is owned by News Corp. The average price of an ad was $2.7 million for 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, a separate survey from TiVo Inc., makers of digital video recorders, found that the E-Trade ad showing a baby talking about stock deals — and spitting up at the end — was the most-watched commercial during the game.

Counting in people who played back material on their DVRs, the commercials were watched by more people than the game, TiVo said.