Nielsen demographic data reveals that significant gains in minority viewership were contributing factors to Sunday's record audience of 106.5 million Super Bowl viewers.

Hispanic outreach has been a focus of the NFL’s marketing strategy, and it may be paying off. Hispanic household ratings were up 9%.  About 8.3 million viewers (44% of them female) in U.S. Hispanic households saw the game.

African American household viewership was up 4%, as 11.2 million viewers (48% female) within black households tuned in to watch.

Nielsen also found that higher-income households were more likely to tune in to Super Bowl XLIV.  A whopping 74% of $500K+ homes tuned in to the game, compared to 45% of all households. And with each step down the income ladder, viewership declined, with households that bring in $10K or less averaging a 30.5% household rating.

The Super Bowl continues to skew to male viewers, with men representing almost 55% of viewers. Nevertheless, an estimated 48.5 million females watched the game, up 4.3 million from last year’s contest. Over the last five years, the total number of femaleswatching the game has climbed 17%. Meanwhile,  an estimated 58 million men watched the Super Bowl, up 3.5 million year-over-year.

A look at age/gender demographics showed that viewers of both genders exhibited a similar viewing arc: generally, the older the viewer, the more likely they tuned into the game.

And one final note that might interest pet owners (and pet product advertisers!): viewers who own a dog or cat had 18% higher Super Bowl ratings than those with no dog or cat.