Super Bowl breaks US TV sport record

The US Super Bowl attracted over 97.5 million viewers on Sunday, making it the second most watched television program in American broadcasting history behind the final MASH episode that pulled in slightly over 100 million viewers.

The game was aired on the Fox network between around 6.30pm and 10.10pm Eastern time and audiences are believed to have peaked at around 107 million. Fox's post-game show drew 69 million viewers.

The previous viewing record for the Super Bowl was set in 1996 when 94.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the match on NBC. Last year 93.2 million people watched the games on CBS, making it the third highest Super Bowl audience of all time.

The match is estimated to have brought in $250 million in revenues for Fox and certainly dwarfs NASCAR's biggest race, the Daytona 500.