The NFL said a potential global audience of up to 800 million viewers watched TV coverage of the match between the Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But TiVo, a creator of television services for digital video recorders, said not all were tuning in for sporting reasons.
TiVo said its analysis showed a Super Bowl commercial featuring a fictional linebacker got better ratings than any of the real football action, a symbolic reflection that most viewers tune into the annual event to watch the commercials and not the game.
Reebok's commercial featuring fictional 'Office Linebacker Terry Tate' was the most watched commercial in TiVo households that tuned into Super Bowl.
Four commercials, all from Anheuser-Busch, complete the list of the top five commercials viewed on TiVo.
ABC, the US television network that showed the match, received a record $70,000 (B64,800) a second for advertising slots, with beer brand
Budweiser's parent company Anheuser Busch the biggest spender, paying between $15m (B13.9m) and $24m (B22.2m) for eleven 30-second slots.
For full details of the survey's findings, see the features section of sportbusiness.com
