Super Bowl 2013: How Many People Watched The Baltimore Ravens Over The San Francisco 49ers?

The 2013 Super Bowl was one of the most unique of its kind, since the game’s inception 46 years ago. It was also one of the most widely seen football games of all-time.

Over 108 million Americans watched the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII. The game comes in third on the list of most-watched television events in U.S. history. Last year’s Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots set a record with 111.3 million viewers. That barely eclipsed the 111 million viewers for the 2011 Super Bowl.

Sunday’s contest broke a string of four straight years of increased viewership for the biggest football game of the year.

The close finish to the game helped increase the number of people watching. 113.92 million Americans were watching the Super Bowl between 10:30 and 10:47 p.m. ET. Late in the fourth quarter, the 49ers had a chance to take the lead, but were unable to convert on a crucial fourth down.

The rating for the Super Bowl was one of the highest in recent years. The game was seen by 46.3 percent of American households, which is the second-highest rating for a Super Bowl since 1986, according to Neil Best of Newsday.

It had been 12 years since either the 49ers or Ravens played in a Super Bowl, and the rating on Sunday was exponentially higher than each team’s previous title game. The game between the Giants and Ravens drew a 40.4 rating. When San Francisco beat the San Diego Chargers in the 1995 Super Bowl, 41.3 percent of households were tuned into the contest.

The final rating did not include the 34-minute blackout at the beginning of the third quarter. Play was suspended for over a half hour when there was a power outage in the Superdome.

The series finale of MASH still holds the record for the highest rating in U.S. history with over 60 percent of TV sets tuned into the show.