NEW YORK — The New York Giants’ 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. Only one other show in American broadcast history was watched by more people, the “M-A-S-H” finale in 1983, which drew 106 million viewers.
Sunday’s 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.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who was to appear on David Letterman’s “Late Show” on Monday, also won bragging rights over his brother: Last year’s win by Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts was seen by 93.2 million people, now the third most popular Super Bowl.
Fox, a division of News Corp., charged $2.7 million for 30 seconds of advertising time on the game.
An eye-popping 81 percent of all TV sets on in the Boston area Sunday were tuned in to the game. In New York, the audience share was 67 percent.
The audience peaked between 6:30 and 7 p.m. PST — the fourth quarter — with 105.7 million people watching, Nielsen said.
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