Seahawks

NEW YORK — For the third consecutive year, the Super Bowl set a record as the most-watched television show in U.S. history.

The Nielsen Co. said Monday an estimated 111.3 million people watched the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots 21-17 Sunday.

That narrowly beat the 111 million who watched Green Bay's 31-25 victory over Pittsburgh last year.

NBC was fortunate to have a competitive game between two teams that played in one of the Super Bowl's most memorable contests four years ago, with one of them representing the largest media market in the country.

The game wasn't over until a last-second heave by New England quarterback Tom Brady into the end zone dropped onto the turf. That play itself had the biggest audience of any play in the game, according to digital-video-recorder maker TiVo. Nielsen said 117.7 million people were watching during the last 30 minutes of the game.

The last two Super Bowls, along with the 2010 game between New Orleans and Indianapolis and the finale of "M*A*S*H" in 1983, are the only programs to exceed 100 million viewers in U.S. television history.

Madonna has some bragging rights, too.

Her halftime show was seen by an estimated 114 million people — a higher average than the game itself — and was the most-watched Super Bowl halftime-entertainment show on record, Nielsen said.

Its fans were disappointed, but Boston had its highest rating ever for an NFL game Sunday.

It was the second-highest rating in the New York market, behind the Giants' first Super Bowl in 1987, Nielsen said. The Giants won that game 39-20 over Denver.