Despite a half-hour power outage and an early blowout, Super Bowl XLVII set an all-time record in overnight ratings.
Super Bowl XLVII, in which the Ravens held off the 49ers to win their second championship, earned a 48.1 overnight rating on CBS Sunday evening — up 1% from Giants/Patriots on NBC last year (47.8), and up less than 1% from Packers/Steelers on FOX in 2011 (47.9).
The overnight does not include coverage from 8:45-9:15 PM ET, when the game was halted due to a blackout. During the blackout, the game averaged a 46.5 overnight.
The 48.1 is the highest ever for the Super Bowl, surpassing the previous high of 47.9 for Packers/Steelers in 2011 and Giants/Broncos in 1987.
Overall, the 48.1 overnight is the highest for any television program since the 1994 Winter Olympics, when Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan lifted CBS to a 49.7 overnight.
When the final numbers are released, the Super Bowl should finish — once again — as the most-viewed program in U.S. television history.
(Sunday’s numbers from CBS Press Express)
