Last night's Super Bowl may have been the most watched telecast ever, according to preliminary data compiled by Nielsen Media Research.

Ratings for the contest between the New York Giants and New England Patriots were up 9% from last year. Figures for the number of viewers weren't immediately available from Nielsen. The most watched program of all time was the 1983 finale of "M-A-S-H." Until now, the most-watched Super Bowl was in 1996 when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Shares of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), whose Fox Network broadcast last night's game, are down 18% over the past year as Wall Street worried that Rupert Murdoch's media empire would be hurt by a slowdown in advertising spending and the Hollywod writers' strike.

New York-based News Corp also is set to report fourth quarter earnings after the close of trading today. Analysts are expecting the media conglomerate to report earnings of 28 cents on revenue of $8.26 billion, according to Bloomberg News.

Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Michael Nathanson expects profit at Fox television to have increased 62% to $181 million, helped by higher advertising sales, Bloomberg said. Thanks to the Super Bowl, that business should continue to perform well for several more quarters.

The other big winner from the Super Bowl will be New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and his brother Peyton, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback who lead his team to victory in last year's Super Bowl. Peyton has become a ubiquitous TV pitchman since the game. There is no doubt that advertisers would probably give their left arms to have both Manning brothers endorse their products.