MDS pointed out earlier the average audience numbers for Super Bowl XLVI. The NFL has now announced the total number of people who watched any portion of the game.
And it’s another record.
In all, 166.8 million tuned in for some portion of NBC’s coverage of the game, making it the biggest total TV audience of all time.
The crowd breaks last year’s record of 162.9 million, who watched some portion of Super Bowl XLV between the Packers and Steelers.
And it’s more than 18 million more viewers than the last Giants-Patriots Super Bowl from four years ago.
Thus, even as we continue to split our time among 300-plus channels and on-demand video and DVDs and the Internet and various other forms of media, there’s only one thing that can unite us as a people: pro football.