Heading into the encounter at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, analysts had predicted that a tight game could set new records and so it proved to be as Eli Manning and the Giants edged out the New England Patriots 21-17. Data released by the Nielsen Company on Monday detailed that NBC’s broadcast of the game became the most-watched television show in US history with an estimated 111.3 million viewers, according to fast national data.

This was enough to ensure that Super Bowl 2012 edged out the Green Bay Packers’ win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last year, which drew 111 million viewers to Fox. The result of the game itself remained in doubt until the final seconds as Patriots quarterback Tom Brady failed with a last-ditch effort to get his team into the endzone. Nielsen reported that the dramatic finale pulled in 117.7 million people during the last half hour of the game.

Monday’s data ensures that the last two Super Bowls, along with the 2010 game between New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts and the finale of drama series ‘M-A-S-H’ in 1983, are the only programmes to exceed 100 million viewers in US television history. Madonna’s half-time show also broke new ground as the most-watched Super Bowl half-time entertainment show on record. Her performance picked up an average of 114 million viewers, higher than the game itself.