• by David Kaplan , February 8, 2005

Despite efforts to scale back tastelessness and sexuality surrounding the advertising and entertainment for Super Bowl XXXIX, TiVo users nevertheless prevailed when it came to commercials that pushed the envelope, as the DVR company reported that the few moments of ribaldry still drew the most enthusiastic viewing. In particular, the highest spike in commercial replay activity during the entire game was GoDaddy.com, which featured a fake "wardrobe malfunction."

Still, in a win for decency, Paul McCartney's half-time performance actually retained more viewers than the heavily promoted hip-hop half time from last year's big game, with five percent more viewers overall.

The highest replayed moments of the game didn't take place during a commercial or during the game, but rather when a phone number was displayed on screen that viewers could use to cast their own votes for the Super Bowl MVP.

And while the final ratings haven't arrived from Nielsen yet, Fox Broadcasting is claiming that Super Bowl XXXIX, the post-game show, and "The Simpsons" all combined to give the network its highest-rated night ever in total viewers. Further, the success of the Super Bowl will have substantially contributed to Fox's weekly ratings overall, giving the network its highest-rated week ever as well, a Fox spokeswoman said.

Super Bowl XXXIX garnered a 33.2 rating among adults ages 18-49, with 86.1 million total viewers. "The Simpsons"--which followed the Super Bowl and post-game wrap-up--posted an 11.2 rating among adults ages 18-49, with 23.1 million total viewers, the most the show has had in 11 years.

TiVo Top Ten Super Bowl Commercials

1 -  Emerald Nuts - Unicorn  
2 -  Anheuser Busch -- Designated Driver

3 -  GoDaddy.com -- Censorship Hearing       
4 -  Diet Pepsi -- Cindy Crawford Eye Catcher       
5 -  Ameriquest -- Robbery       
6 -  Careerbuilder.com -- Monkey Brown-Nosing

7 -  Tabasco -- Burn       
8 -  Fed Ex -- Super Bowl Commercial Formula       
9 -  Paramount Pictures -- War of the Worlds       
10 - Anheuser Busch -- Thank You to Troops

Source: TiVo.