Though up from their first meeting four years ago, overnight ratings for Sunday’s rematch between the Giants and Patriots trailed last year’s Packers/Steelers matchup. The Giants/Patriots Super Bowl earned a 47.8 overnight rating on NBC Sunday evening, down a tick from last year (GB/PIT: 47.9, FOX), but up 3% from 2010 (NO/IND: 46.4, CBS). The Giants’ win ranks as the third-highest rated Super Bowl of all-time in the metered markets. Only last year’s Packers/Steelers Super Bowl and the 1987 Giants/Broncos Super Bowl earned better numbers (47.9 for both games). For some perspective, the 2008 Giants/Patriots Super Bowl earned a 44.7 overnight. It is not unprecedented for the Super Bowl to have a decline in overnights and still finish with more viewers than the previous year. In 2009, the Steelers/Cardinals Super Bowl was down 6% in the overnights, but viewership for the game was up 2% when the final numbers were released. In other words, there is still the real possibility that this year’s Super Bowl will earn a larger audience than last year’s record-setting Packers/Steelers game and wind up as the most-viewed program in U.S. television history. During the 2000s, the Super Bowl never once earned at least a 45.0 overnight. By comparison, the game has drawn at least a 46.0 overnight in each of the first three years of the 2010s, according to Sports Media Watch.