Climax of American football season watched by average of 111 million viewers on Fox
The Super Bowl broke US TV ratings records for the second year running on Sunday, with the climax of the American football season watched by an average of 111 million viewers on the Fox network.
Sunday's 45th Super Bowl, which saw the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25, beat last year's record audience by 4.5 million. The 2010 Super Bowl was broadcast on CBS.
It is the second year in a row that the Super Bowl has broken viewing records, pushing the 1983 finale of Korean war medical comedy M*A*S*H into third place with 106 million viewers.
The Super Bowl average audience numbers also fail to include viewers watching in venues such as bars.
In terms of reach ? viewers who tuned in to watch "some part" of this year's game ? Super Bowl XLV also set a new record at 162.9 million, up on the 153.4 million for the 2010 match and more than half the total US population. According to the 2010 census, the US population is 308 million.
Ratings for the Super Bowl half time show, which featured the Black Eyed Peas, also "improved slightly" compared with some previous half-time performers of recent years including Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. The all-time record is still held by Michael Jackson.
Advertisers paid a record $3m for a 30-second spot in this year's Super Bowl with revenue from commercials expected to top $210m.
Glee, which followed the Super Bowl on Fox, also recorded its best-ever figures, averaging 26.8 million viewers. However, this was down on last year's ratings for the post-Super Bowl slot when reality show Undercover Boss, made by UK independent producer Studio Lambert, attracted 38.6 million on CBS.
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Mariah OBrien Uma Thurman Alice Dodd Kate Walsh Autumn Reeser
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