The NFL has seen ratings skyrocket this season across the board. And the marketers had to be over-the-top happy with the results from last night’s Super Bowl: a close game to the end and the underdog New Orleans Saints winning the entire game.

Nationally, about 106.5 million viewers on average caught the game. This is the largest audience ever for an American television program, just beating out the 106 million who saw the “M*A*S*H” finale in 1982. Of course, the United States had 75 million fewer people in 1982 but back then, there were far fewer TV choices as well.

Locally, 47.5 percent of all TVs were tuned to the Super Bowl and 67 percent of TVs that were on were focused on the game. That equals nearly 3 million people viewing the game in Atlanta. In comparison, “American Idol” brings in 800,000 to 1 million viewers and UGA football games typically draw 600,000.