The Denver Broncos’ 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 on Sunday night was not always interesting and not always exciting. And it was long at 3 hours 43 minutes.
And so it did not set a viewership record, as the previous two Super Bowls did. Still, an enormous number of people watched. The average of 111.9 million viewers made Super Bowl 50 the third-most-watched television program in United States history, behind the 114.4 million for the Super Bowl last year and 112.2 million for the 2014 game.
Without a climactic finish to keep viewers riveted, the peak of 115.