Super Bowl's overnight ratings fall short of last year's record
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Feb. 5, 2012: New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, left, and Justin Tuck celebrate their team's 21-17 win over the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game in Indianapolis. (AP)
The overnight rating for the New York Giants' Super Bowl win over New England was less than 1 percent shy of the record tied last year.
New York's 21-17 victory Sunday night on NBC received a 47.8 rating and 71 share, Nielsen Media Research said Monday. It trailed the 47.9/71 overnight for Green Bay's 31-25 victory over Pittsburgh last year on Fox and the 47.9/68 for the Giants' 39-20 win over Denver in 1987.
The game began with a 43.3/69 for the first half hour from 6:30-7 p.m. EST and peaked at a 51.8/73 from 9:30-10 p.m., when the Giants rallied in the fourth quarter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Boston had its best NFL rating at 56.7/81, topping the 2002 Super Bowl, and New York's 49.7/74 was second only to 1987. Indianapolis' 56.4/79 was second-best for a host, trailing only Jacksonville's 58.9/77 in 2006.
The rating is the percentage of television households tuned to a broadcast, and the share is the percentage of homes watching among those with TVs on at the time.
National ratings were due out later Monday.