Update!

Super Bowl 2014 Ratings: How Many People Tuned In to See the Seahawks' Blowout of the Broncos?

Big Super Bowl blowout of 2014 attracted a huge crowd, but was down from last year

By Chris Harnick Feb 03, 2014 9:24 PMTags
SeahawksRob Carr/Getty Images

The 2014 Super Bowl ratings are in! The big blowout of 2014 was the most-watched game ever, bringing in 111.5 million viewers,according to Nielsen. The Seahawks-Broncos' 48-3 blowout narrowly topped the previous record set by 2011's game, which attracted 111.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched U.S. TV telecast of all time. 

Last year's game on CBS had 108.4 million viewers.

Early data had Super Bowl XLVIII coming in at 96.9 million viewers, with the lower ratings making sense given the nature of the game. The Seattle Seahawks scored consistently throughout the game, with the Denver Broncos only getting eight points in the third quarter. The game ended with a score of 43-8 with the Seahawks being crowned Super Bowl XLVIII champions.

And 2014's half-time show, which featured Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, also set a record, bringing in 115.3 million viewers, topping the record Madonna set in 2012 (114 million viewers). 

Twitter reported close to 25 million tweets were made during the telecast of the game, up from the 24.1 million during last year's game.

After the big game, Fox aired episodes of New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. New Girl featured a guest appearance by Prince and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which just took home the Golden Globe for Best Comedy, had Adam Sandler guest star. Early Nielsen numbers for New Girl have it with 18.2 million viewers and a 7.8 rating, however Fox's Gaude Paez Morose, senior vice president of corporate communications, tweeted that the show had 25.8 million viewers and a 11.1 rating. Exact numbers will be released later. Numbers for Brooklyn Nine-Nine were not immediately available, but Fox's Morose said the comedy had 14.8 million viewers and a 6.7 rating.

The last time Fox aired the Super Bowl, it showed Glee after the big game. In 2011, the Glee episode racked up 26.8 million viewers. The highest-rated post-Super Bowl show (since ratings were available) was in 1996 when NBC aired a one-hour episode of Friends. The Friends episode, appropriately titled "The One After the Super Bowl" had close to 53 million viewers. ­In 2013, CBS aired the Super Bowl and slotted Elementary after the big game. That episode of the modern day take on Sherlock Holmes had 20.8 million viewers.

(Originally published Feb. 3, 2014, at 9:37 a.m. PT)