Super Bowl Rating: 111.5 Million Watched Seahawks Drub Broncos, Making it Most-Watched TV Show in U.S. History

Super Bowl XLVIII drew a huge average rating for FOX, even though the Seahawks whipped the Broncos 43-8 and the game was essentially over about 15 seconds into the third quarter thanks to Percy Harvin. An average of 111.5 million people watch the game from MetLife Stadium, which is “more than any television program in U.S. history,” via Fox’s press release. (People must have stayed to watch the commercials or forgotten they’re all already on YouTube.)

#SB48 watched by 111.5 million, more than any TV program in U.S. history, surpassing 111.3 million for SB XLVI http://t.co/iXq0eNPKoP
— Lou D'Ermilio (@LouDCommLLC) February 3, 2014

The Super Bowl rating finished at 46.4, which is only the seventh-highest rated game in history. People also loved Bruno Mars at halftime:

Bruno Mars averaged 115.3M viewers for halftime show, breaking Madonna's record of 114.0M.
— Neil Best (@sportswatch) February 3, 2014

Perhaps the most remarkable news to come from FOX’s press release is that Kansas City drew a higher local rating (58.1) for the game than both Seattle (56.2) and Denver (51.4).

The news that Americans love to watch football on a Sunday evening in early February every year, however, shouldn’t come as news to anyone.