The AP is reporting that the preliminary Nielsen Ratings info for last night was a rating of 43.3 and a 63 share.  This compares to last year’s numbers of 42.7 and 62.  While in ratings points this would not eclipse the 46.0 rating from 1996, the population is bigger now so 1 point represents more viewers than it did in 1996 and this could surpass the 94.1 million in 1996.

Update 7:56 PST: Now AP is Reporting a 44.7 and a 66 share. 

Update 9am PST: Nielsen/Marc Berman report a 46.4/67 for the 7p-10p primetime portion of the game and a 44/63 for the postgame show at 10p. 

As of 9:35am PST, we’re still waiting on viewer numbers…

10:15PST: It appears the ratings performance was less than record breaking.