This year's Super Bowl attracted more US viewers than any sports event in history, audience figures have shown.

The Sunday evening game earned Fox an average audience of 97.5m to make it the second most-watched broadcast in the country ever. The last MASH on CBS in 1983 drew 105.97m.

The New England Patriots versus New York Giants showdown beat the 94m audience for the Dallas-Pittsburgh Super Bowl in 1996 and took a 65% share - the best for a Super Bowl in 11 years.

A House special following the broadcast took advantage to set a series record of 29m viewers. It was the biggest audience for a scripted show since the Grey's Anatomy that followed the Super Bowl on ABC in 2006.

Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of Fox parent News Corp, today said the network made $250m on Sunday thanks to the Super Bowl. He said it was "the biggest day in our company’s history" as it announced second fiscal quarter results.

Sunday's Super Bowl is also only the second live sporting event to make it to the BBC's iPlayer. It will be available on the platform until Sunday.