Ratings: Super Bowl XLVII huge as expected; ‘Elementary’ likely hurt by late start

Be sure to keep checking back to this article, as we are going to be updating it over the next couple of hours as more and more numbers come in from around the country.

For now, here’s what we can tell you: Super Bowl XLVII was one of the most-popular events in television history, with the show on CBS drawing a 48.1 household rating and a 71 share in all metered markets. This is a small increase over the past two Super Bowls … but there is also a caveat here, as the network opted to not include the 30-minute blackout period in their numbers (which would have likely dropped their average down, as there was probably some serious channel-surfing going on during that period). Even with that, though, these numbers are fantastic considering that the game between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers looked like a blowout for much of the night, and it also ran extremely late.

Now, we turn to the bad news: “Elementary” started later than any post-Super Bowl telecast in history, which meant that some viewers on the East Coast likely missed it as they had to turn off their TVs and get ready for work (at least the ones who decided to not call in sick). At the moment, the show drew a 12.0 rating and 24 share, which is still easily the highest-rated and most-watched episode in the show’s history. While we’re still sure CBS loved the big game running late for their ratings, the Sherlock Holmes adaptation did not have nearly the platform that “The Voice,” which started airing almost an hour earlier in 2012, had.

Update: Sources are now putting the “Elementary” audience at just over 20 million, which is the lowest number for a post-Super Bowl show since 2005. However, it is also worth noting that scripted shows tend to fare worse than reality programming, and that this was latest ever that a show has started up after the big game.