Super Bowl XLVII falls short of ratings record Combine a nail-biting game with a power outage -- and toss in a hyped halftime performance by Beyonce -- and you're likely to score some big ratings. An estimated 108.4 million people watched the Super Bowl -- a huge number -- but making it fall short of setting the fourth straight viewership record. According to CBS, CBS Television Network's coverage of Super Bowl XLVII "was watched by a Nielsen estimated average of 108.41 million viewers, making it the third-most-watched program in television history (Super Bowl XLVI - 111.3 million; Super Bowl XLV - 111.0 million)." The Nielsen Company said Monday that the Baltimore Ravens' 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers was the third most-viewed program in television history. Both the 2010 and 2011 games hit the 111 million mark. Football viewership in general declined this year. But with a thrilling finish, this year's game did become the fourth Super Bowl to record more than 100 million viewers. Nielsen reported the game scored a 48.1 rating and 71 share in its select measurement of big cities. That's 1 percent over a similar measurement in last year's game, which aired on Fox. For three years in a row, the Super Bowl has set a new record for most-watched event in U.S. television history. One ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share means that 71 percent of TVs that were on at the time were tuned to the Super Bowl. Television ratings grew throughout the evening, reaching 52.9 with a 75 share at the game's end. CBS was blessed with the dream of every network televising a Super Bowl: a game that isn't decided until the final play. The share means the percentage of TV sets in use that were tuned to the game. Baltimore had the highest rating of any individual city, Nielsen said. San Francisco was not among the top 10 cities in ratings. CBS drew criticism from the Parents Television Council for not editing out a profanity said by Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco shortly after the game. Flacco was caught by microphones describing his team's victory as "f------ awesome." "No one should be surprised that a jubilant quarterback might use profane language while celebrating a career-defining win, but that is precisely the reason why CBS should have taken some precautions," said Tim Winter, president of the lobbying group, asking for the Federal Communications Commission to rebuke CBS. The network had no immediate comment Monday on the complaint. CBS has said that it was airing the pregame, postgame and halftime portions of the show on tape delay to guard against the use of bad language or wardrobe malfunctions. The postgame delay does not begin until the first block of commercials after the game, which hadn't happened before Flacco's expletive.