MORE than 95 million viewers tuned in to watch all or part of Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday night, according to Nielsen.
NBC scored a touchdown with the game (Pittsburgh beat Arizona 27-23), which drew a total audience of 147 million viewers, who saw all or part of the game.
The telecast was the second-most-watched Super Bowl in history, falling more than two percent compared to last year’s New York Giants upset over undefeated New England. That game was seen by an average of 97.5 million viewers and 148.3 million viewers overall.
The biggest audience Sunday came early with an average of 96.5 million who tuned in around 7 p.m., according to early Nielsen numbers. Despite the close game, the numbers inexplicably dropped throughout the rest of the game.
Typically, close-scoring games tend to grow their audiences as the clock runs out.