Fox, NBC ratings bolstered by Sunday's close NFL games
The first competitive NFL playoff games of the postseason led to some impressive ratings for both Fox and NBC.
The Green Bay Packers’ last-second victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday resulted in the highest overnight rating and share for a divisional playoff game on any network in 20 years and was the most-watched NFL game since last February’s Super Bowl, Fox announced on Monday.
NBC’s broadcast of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 18-16 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs resulted in the best ratings for any prime-time game through the first two rounds of the playoffs.The game had originally been scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET before the league moved it to 8:20 p.m. ET due to an ice storm that hit the Kansas City area.
The 26.1 rating and 46 share for Packers’ 34-31 win was 11% higher than last year’s game in the same late afternoon window (CBS’ broadcast of the Pittsburgh Steelers-Denver Broncos game) and 24% higher than last year’s NFC divisional game on the same day (Seattle Seahawks-Carolina Panthers on Fox).
The Fox broadcast, which averaged 48.5 million viewers, peaked at 62.434 million viewers between 7:45 and 8 p.m. ET (32.3 rating 52 share) as the game hung in the balance before a 51-yard field goal by Mason Crosby as time expired sealed a Green Bay win. The game was the most-watched NFL game ever on its Fox Sports Go platform and the average viewership (363,058) was second only to Game 7 of the 2016 World Series overall.
NBC’s 19.8/32 for the Steelers-Chiefs game was an 8% improvement over the prime-time game it broadcast during the same weekend last year: Green Bay’s overtime win over Arizona, which aired on a Saturday night. The game averaged 37.4 million viewers when streaming was factored in.
The game drew the biggest streaming audience to NBC's digital platforms for a Sunday NFL game (outside the Super Bowl) with an average viewership up 260,000.
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The share is the number of televisions in use tuned to a certain broadcast, meaning an estimated 46% watched the Packers-Cowboys and 34% watched the Steelers-Chiefs in markets measured by Nielsen.
Steelers-Chiefs viewership peaked between 11-11:15 pm ET (23.8/40) as Pittsburgh held off Kansas City to win.
PHOTOS: Best of NFL Playoffs: Divisional weekend