NEW YORK: Setting television viewership records with the Super Bowl has become almost routine, but this year’s average of 111.9 million viewers for Denver’s victory over Carolina is down from the past two years.

That makes Sunday’s game the third most-watched event in US television history, the Nielsen company said Monday. Last year’s down-to-the-wire contest between New England and Seattle keeps the record with 114.4 million viewers.

The Super Bowl had seemed to know no ceiling in popularity, setting viewership records in six of seven years until this one.

CBS, the nation’s most-watched network, had pushed the event hard the past few months, playing up the historical nature of the 50th Super Bowl game. But Denver’s 24-10 victory wasn’t a sizzler, with defenses dominating the marquee quarterback matchup between Peyton Manning and reigning NFL MVP Cam Newton.

Even more than television, social media reflected far less engagement in the game than there was last year, when the result was decided on a last-minute, goal-line interception.

Twitter said that there were 16.9 million tweets about the game, sharply down from last year’s 25.1 million. Facebook reported that there were 200 million posts, comments or “likes,” down from 265 million last year. This year, 60 million people took to Facebook to converse about the game, while last year it was 65 million.

For both Twitter and Facebook, the moment of highest social media activity occurred in the minute after the halftime show featuring Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars. On Facebook the next most-commented upon moments came at the end of the game and following Lady Gaga’s rendition of the National Anthem.

Nielsen said 21.2 million stayed up to watch the special version of Steven Colbert’s “The Late Show” that aired after the game. While it represented Colbert’s biggest audience ever, that was almost a given — and it was the smallest audience for a post-Super Bowl program since 17.4 million people watched “Alias” on ABC in 2003.

Colbert may have been hurt by the relatively late start, 10:54 p.m. on the East Coast, following post-game interviews and trophy presentations.

Nielsen said an average of 1.4 million computer users watched the live stream of the game. The stream had just under 4 million unique visitors during the game.

Bengals sign free agents Chykie Brown, Darryl Baldwin

The Bengals signed cornerback Chykie Brown and offensive tackle Darryl Baldwin on Monday, adding free agents who didn’t play in the NFL last season.

Brown has played in 54 games with six starts with the Ravens and the Giants since 2011. He started two playoff games for Baltimore during its Super Bowl championship season in 2012. The Giants got him off waivers last season and released him after the preseason. No other team signed him.

Baldwin signed with Baltimore as a free agent from Ohio State last season. He played in one preseason game and was waived in the final preseason cuts. He also failed to get a contract from another team.


Falcons cut 2 defensive starters: S Moore and LB Durant

The Atlanta Falcons have released a pair of defensive starters: longtime safety William Moore and linebacker Justin Durant.

Moore was a second-round pick in 2009 and one of the senior members of the team. He played in 76 games with 72 starts over seven seasons, earning a Pro Bowl selection in 2012.

But the hard-hitting Moore was plagued by injuries, playing all 16 games only twice in his career. This past year, he went on injured reserve in December with an ankle problem.

Durant was one of Atlanta’s biggest free-agent signings a year ago, brought in with the hope of adding big-play capability to the defense after the hiring of coach Dan Quinn.

While Durant ranked second on the team with 81 tackles, he missed three games with injuries.

Biography of Brett Favre out in November

Brett Favre, selected last weekend for the NFL Hall of Fame, will be the subject of a biography coming out in November.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced Monday that it had acquired Jeff Pearlman’s “Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre.” According to the publisher, Pearlman will draw upon hundreds of interviews, including friends and family members. The retired quarterback himself is not participating, but he did allow access to many close to him.

Favre spent much of his long and colorful career with the Green Bay Packers, winning three consecutive NFL MVP awards from 1995-97 and a championship in the 1997 Super Bowl.