"After the game, "Elementary" scored 20.8 million viewers and a 7.8 rating among adults 18-49 for CBS. That's by far the biggest audience the show has had in its rookie season, but it's also the smallest audience for a post-Super Bowl show since "Alias" drew 17.3 million people after Super Bowl XXXVII a decade ago. (In comparison, "The Voice" scored 37.6 million viewers last year, and the debut of "Undercover Boss" brought in 38.7 million viewers the last time CBS had the Super Bowl in 2010.)
The common factor in the relatively low numbers for "Elementary" and "Alias" is that both started after 11 p.m. ET. The blackout pushed "Elementary's" start time back to 11:11 p.m., almost certainly robbing it of a few million viewers."
Unfortunate, but there's really no surprise that the numbers were down from other years. There's certainly going to be a difference between who might have stayed around to watch Elementary at 10:00p.m., when it was supposed to start, and who actually stayed around when it didn't start until 11:11p.m. and people had to go to work today. Though things could still be quite interesting once DVR viewing gets factored in...