Glee Super Bowl episode more than doubles audience

Musical comedy Glee more than doubled its TV audience on Sunday, attracting 26.8 million viewers for a special episode broadcast after the Super Bowl, ratings figures showed on Monday.

Broadcaster Fox television said the football-themed episode of the show about misfit high school students in a choir was the highest-rated scripted series on any U.S. network since 2008.

Glee, featuring a mash-up of Michael Jackson's iconic song Thriller, was shown immediately after the Green Bay Packers powered to a 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League championship.

According to early ratings data, Sunday's Super Bowl is poised to set a record in terms of TV audiences of more than 106 million viewers when final figures are released later on Monday.

Emmy-award winning Glee and its popular cover versions of hit pop, hip-hop and Broadway songs, saw its audience leap from an average 11.6 million Americans to 26.8 million on Sunday, Fox said.