The Seattle Seahawks’ blowout 43-8 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII was the most-watched TV event in US history.
The game averaged a record 111.5 million viewers on Fox, beating the previous all-time viewership high of 111.3 million set by Super Bowl XLVI in 2012 (which featured a much closer game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots).
It was up also up 3 percent from the 2013 Super Bowl, which featured the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers.
Despite posting the largest margin of victory in a Super Bowl in 21 years, the final minutes of play drew a 44.0 household rating, just 5 percent lower than the game average (46.4 rating).
Of that record audience, nearly 26 million viewers stuck around to watch the post-game episode of “New Girl,” 23 percent more than watched “Elementary” after the Super Bowl on CBS last year.
Among the key advertising demo of adults 18-49, the episode — which guest-starred Prince — drew an 11.1 rating, just below the 11.2 rating “Glee” scored when Fox last broadcast the Super Bowl in 2011.
Following “New Girl,” recent Golden Globe winner “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” averaged 14.8 million viewers and a 6.7 rating in the 18-49 demo.
And for the third year in a row, PBS’ “Downton Abbey” topped the counter-programming opposite the big game. The British costume drama averaged 6.8 million viewers to be the No. 2 program against the Super Bowl, up 3 percent from the same episode in 2013.