It really was a Super Sunday for CBS.
The network’s coverage of the Chicago Bears-Indianapolis Colts game drew the third-largest audience ever on television and the second-best Super Bowl tally, despite early numbers that indicated the game was flat to last year.
The game drew 93.2 million total viewers, according to Nielsen numbers released last night. Among Super Bowls, that trailed only the 1996 game between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers, which drew 94.1 million total viewers.
And it was the third-most-watched program ever on television, behind the 1996 game and the 1983 series finale of “M*A*S*H,” which drew almost 106 million viewers.
That bettered last year’s 90.7 million total viewers by 3 percent. Sunday’s game also became just the sixth Super Bowl ever to top 90 million total viewers.
The game finished with a 42.6 household rating and 64 share, up 0.6 from early metered market numbers that measured only the country’s top 55 markets. Final ratings often adjust up or down as early ones also measure timeslot and not actual program data.
This year’s game bettered last year’s final rating of 41.6/63 by 2 percent.
Nielsen said 139.8 million people tuned in to at least a few minutes of the game.
The game was expected to be a big draw for several reasons, chief among them the popularity of game most valuable player Peyton Manning. The National Football League’s top-paid pitchman, Manning is expected to pick up even more endorsements after finally winning a big game.
But another factor that likely boosted viewership was the historic nature of the game. Bears coach Lovie Smith and Colts coach Tony Dungy were the first African American coaches ever to make the Super Bowl, and Dungy became the first to win it.
That was expected to boost black viewership above the past few years.
The highly anticipated matchup also likely drew more viewers anticipating a tight contest. The game started with a bang as Chicago became the first team to ever run back an opening kickoff for a score in the Super Bowl.
It then settled into a messy affair full of turnovers and miscues as the two teams struggled through driving rains that even knocked out several CBS cameras during the three and a half hour contest.
Though Chicago fell behind by 12 a few minutes into the fourth quarter, the game never turned into a blowout.
Finally, big ratings in Chicago also likely boosted the Super Bowl. The Chicago market is the nation’s third-largest, and more than half the city was expected to tune in.
