Super Bowl XLVI was certainly an unforgettable world championship game, with the outcome determined on the final Hail Mary pass from Tom Brady, but it may not have broken last year's record viewership to become the most watched event in American TV history.
Sports Business Journal's John Ourand is reporting that the overnight rating for the game is a 47.8 rating, which is one tenth of a point less than last year's 47.9 rating. In addition, Ourand predicts that the total viewership numbers (released later today) won't eclipse last year's record setting mark by the Steelers and Packers (106.5 million viewers).
The overnight numbers were huge in Boston and New York, obviously, with Beantown scoring a 56.7 over New York's 49.7 rating. So far the biggest ratings winner is Madonna - the overnight rating for her halftime performance is a 48.3, higher than the game's total 47.8.
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