A blackout, a show-stealing halftime show and a dramatic, heart-pounding, furious finish to a game that started out looking like a blowout made Super Bowl XLVII the most watched TV broadcast in history.
According to early Nielsen ratings projections, more than 48 percent of homes in the U.S. tuned into CBS to watch the spectacle of the Super Bowl as the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 to win the NFL's world championship.
More concrete numbers are expected later on Monday, but this year's early projections of 48.1 metered-market household ratings are up by four-tenths from last year's record-setting Super Bowl XLVI, which drew a 47.8 percent rating.
Beyoncé's highly anticipated halftime show--which featured the return of best-selling female singing trio Destiny's Child--has drawn strong reviews, but it reportedly failed to top Madonna's performance in the ratings for the halftime show last year during the "Big Game."
However, the ratings are excluding the blackout that stopped play between 8:45 p.m. to 9: 15 p.m. EST, which became the talk of social media.
The ratings numbers for the game skyrocketed during the final moments of the "Big Game," which had a stunning finish as the 49ers rallied and had a chance to win the game during a play sequence from their goal line, but Baltimore's defense, led by NFL great Ray Lewis in his final game, held the line as the Ravens won their second franchise world title.
The numbers for the game rated highest in Baltimore, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Norfolk, Va., and Dayton, Ohio. However, due to the length of the game, it may have hurt the debut of the CBS drama "Elementary," which drew a 12.0 rating--one of the lowest post-Super Bowl telecasts in years.
The preliminary numbers are looking good leading into the release of the final numbers today, but they'll have a ways to go if they want to beat last year's Super Bowl, which drew the largest television audience in U.S. history with 111.3 million viewers. The 2011 Super Bowl XLV telecast drew 111.0 million to the screen for the No. 2 spot on the all-time most watched telecasts.