Feb. 02--A stunning finish to Super Bowl XLIX helped the NBC telecast attract a record-setting audience of 114.4 million viewers, topping last year's record by 2.2 million.
The 28-24 win by the New England Patriots over the Seattle Seahawks averaged a 47.5 rating between 6:31 p.m. and 10:10 p.m. EST, the highest the big game has scored since 1986, when the Chicago Bears topped the Patriots in Super Bowl XX.
Each rating point represents a percentage of U.S. television households.
It's the second straight year the Super Bowl has set an all-time viewing record, as it topped the 112.2 million who watched Fox's telecast last year, when the Seahawks crushed the Denver Broncos 43-8. The top six most watched programs in television history are now Super Bowl telecasts.
The rating for this year's game peaked from 9:45 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST, with the Patriots' comeback from a 10-point deficit being watched by 120.8 million viewers.
The halftime show, featuring Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott, was watched by 118.5 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. EST, a gain of 3.2 million over last year when Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers starred. It was the largest audience for a Super Bowl halftime show.
UPDATES
3:26 p.m.: This article was updated to add the national ratings numbers for Super Bowl XLIX. An earlier version included the average of the overnight ratings from the major markets.
The first version of this article was published at 7:30 a.m.
