Super Bowl XLV (or 45, for those that aren’t Roman numerically-inclined) is officially the most watched Super Bowl–and for that matter the most watched TV event–of all time, drawing 111 million total viewers on average. All told, 162.9 million people tuned into the game at one point or another. Yes, that is about half of the entire country.
That is up from last year’s record of 106.5 million, when the game was on CBS.
Update: The official announcement, from the NFL, is after the jump.
SUPER BOWL XLV MOST-WATCHED TV SHOW OF ALL TIME
162.9 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS
SUPER BOWLS RANK AS TV’S TOP 20 SHOWS
The record-setting 2010 NFL season concluded with another television milestone as Super Bowl XLV on FOX reached a total audience of 162.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched show in U.S. television history according to The Nielsen Company.
The Packers-Steelers championship game topped by 9.5 million the previous record of 153.4 million total viewers set last year (Colts-Saints in Super Bowl XLIV) and marks the fourth consecutive record-setting total audience for the Super Bowl. Super Bowls account for the 20 most-watched programs in history in terms of total audience.
Most-Watched TV Programs, Total Viewers
Game Total Viewers Super Bowl XLV (Packers-Steelers), 2/6/11 162.9 million Super Bowl XLIV (Colts-Saints), 2/7/10 153.4 million Super Bowl XLIII (Cardinals-Steelers), 2/1/09 151.6 million Super Bowl XLII (Giants-Patriots), 2/3/08 148.3 million Super Bowl XXXVIII (Patriots-Panthers), 2/1/04 144.4 million Source: NFL, The Nielsen Company
In addition, a record average of 111 million viewers watched Super Bowl XLV – topping the previous mark of 106.5 million for Super Bowl XLIV.