Super Bowl XLII attracted a record audience on CTV and RDS, bringing a combined audience of 5.07 million viewers to the network and its French sportscaster, according to preliminary overnight data. This surpasses the previous record of 4.98 million set in 2006 by Global and RDS and is the highest-ever score for a Super Bowl in Canada.

CTV’s first Super Bowl peaked at 5.83 million viewers at 10:02 p.m. ET, during the final, thrilling moments of the New York Giants’ 17-14 upset victory over the New England Patriots.

The average audience of 4.16 million viewers was up 24% over last year’s, and up 13% on RDS to 905,000. Final Super Bowl audience numbers will be available in the coming weeks.

In the U.S., Fox’s broadcast averaged 97.5 million viewers, beating the 1996 record of 94.1 million held by NBC.

M2 Universal VP Dennis Dinga says this year’s Super Bowl provided a reason for fourth-quarter advertisers to smile. ‘Usually these games are a blowout or they are done before the fourth quarter starts. This year, it came down to 35 seconds,’ he says.

‘We continue to see event programming such as the Super Bowl as excellent media brands,’ says OMD Canada managing director Sherry O’Neil. ‘With the decreasing popularity of conventional TV, events will continue to provide an excellent opportunity to reach truly mass audiences in a single spot. As a football fan, I felt the game, despite low scoring, was truly a property the viewer would stay with until the bitter end. This is not always the case with final games, but this one really delivered.’

O’Neil does, however, have a ‘pet peeve’ regarding CTV’s handling of the Super Bowl — the high number of self-promos. ‘While we obviously believe advertising is good, a little variety would make the viewing experience much more pleasurable. I am pretty sure they had more than three or four spots they could run to promote existing properties.’