LAWRENCE, Kansas – America loves an underdog, and America loves a comeback. Put those together, as the New Orleans Saints did in Sunday’s Super Bowl, and you get ratings. Big ratings.

CBS’ average overnight rating/share was a 46.4/68. In layman’s terms, an average of 46.4% of U.S. television households watched the game, with 68% of those watching television from 6:30-9:45 p.m. ET tuning in to the Super Bowl. It marks the highest rating since current CBS lead analyst Phil Simms was leading the New York Giants to victory in Super Bowl XXI (47.8/68). Conveniently, that too was a come-from-behind win.

The numbers peaked with a 50.6/71 in the telecast’s final 15 minutes. Not surprisingly, New Orleans was the highest rated market with a 56.3/82. The Washington, D.C., market – which was blanketed with two feet of snow over the weekend – had the second highest rating. Even with more than 300,000 people without power, the area clocked in with a 56.0/73. Nashville came in third (54.4/73), Indianapolis fourth (54.2/80) and Columbus, Ohio, fifth (54.0/74).

Ratings for this year’s Super Bowl were a 10% improvement from last year’s Steelers-Cardinals matchup.

Filed under: Sports TV, Television