Super Bowl tops in ratings; blackout watched, too

The Associated Press, Tuesday, February 5, 2013, 1:51pm (PST)

NEW YORK (AP) — As it does nearly every year, the Super Bowl will almost certainly stand as the most-watched television event of 2013. This year, the Blackout Bowl isn't too far behind.

CBS asked the Nielsen Co. to estimate how many viewers watched the Baltimore Ravens' victory over the San Francisco 49ers while excluding the 34 minutes that the game was stopped because of a partial Superdome power outage. The game was seen by about 108.7 million people, down from the last two years but still ranking as the third-most-watched show in U.S. television history.

Despite the Ravens' big lead, few people were interested in tuning out during the outage. Nielsen estimated a 2 percent drop in viewers during that time, to 106.6 million.

The cause of the blackout hasn't yet been pinpointed.