Super Bowl XLII Tackles Record 97.5 Million Viewers
Giants-Pats Most-Watched Super Bowl, Trails Only M*A*S*H Finale
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 2/4/2008 4:59:00 PM
The New York Giants’ victory in Super Bowl XLII was certainly one for the books.
Not only did the G-men’s upset crush the New England Patriots’ drive for NFL perfection, but their 17-14 triumph was the most-watched Super Bowl telecast ever and the second biggest in the history of American television.
The game, which averaged a 43.2 share/65 share, pulled in some 97.5 million viewers, according to the fast nationals from Nielsen Media Research. Giants-Pats surpassed the 94.1 million viewers that tuned in NBC’s telecast of Super Bowl XXX, the Dallas Cowboys’ 27-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Jan. 28, 1996.
Super Bowl XLII came up second to the M*A*S*H series finale, which averaged 105.9 million viewers for CBS on Feb. 28, 1983. At its peak during the fourth quarter, the game was even closer to the Alan Alda series, averaging 105.7 million from 9:30 p.m. through 10 p.m.(ET)
The game earned the record for total viewership as 148.3 million watched all or part of the contest, supplanting the 144.4 million that eyed Super Bowl XXXVIII on CBS in 2004, the Patriots’ 32-29 win over the Carolina Panthers
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