It's Official: Super Bowl XLV Is Most-Watched TV Event Ever as 111 Million People Tune In

By Alex Weprin 

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.

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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.

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