NBC has to be happy (and the NFL for that matter) with its ratings for the Atlanta-Arizona and Indianapolis-San Diego doubleheader. Both games were close at the end and you had a dramatic overtime finish to boot. So here are the numbers from NBC.
NBC Scores Best Primetime Wild Card Rating Ever and Best Saturday Wild Card Rating Since 1999
NEW YORK – January 4, 2009 – NBC Sports coverage of Saturday night's San Diego Chargers 23-17 overtime victory over the Indianapolis Colts earned NBC the best overnight rating for primetime Wild Card Playoff game ever and the best Saturday Wild Card playoff game since 1999. (The NFL began primetime Wild Card games in 2002).
The Colts-Chargers game (8:15-11:45) earned an 18.3 overnight rating and 30 share, tying it with 2003 Atlanta-Green Bay for the highest rating for a Saturday Wild Card game since 1999 (Arizona-Dallas, 20.9/38) and 10 percent higher than last years Jacksonville-Pittsburgh game (16.6/27). The rating peaked during overtime at 11:30 at a 21.6/37.
NBC scored a 17.3/28 in traditional primetime (8-11 p.m. ET), 394 percent higher than Fox, the next highest network (3.5/6) and 90 percent higher than the combined delivery of Fox, CBS (2.9/5) and ABC (2.7/4).
NBC Sports also scored the best two-game average overnight rating for an NFL Wild Card Saturday in five years. NBC's Wild Card Saturday, featuring Atlanta-Arizona (14.3/28) in the afternoon and Indianapolis-San Diego in primetime, averaged a 16.4 overnight rating and 29 share – the best two-game average overnight rating for an NFL Wild Card Saturday in five years (2005 on ABC: St. Louis-Seattle in afternoon and NY Jets-San Diego in primetime, 16.5/28).
The 16.4 average overnight rating is also a three percent improvement over the 16.0/28 average for the two Wild Card Saturday games last year (Washington-Seattle in afternoon and Jacksonville-Pittsburgh in primetime).
Gm. 1 – Falcons-Cardinals – Top 10 Markets:
1. Atlanta, 28.2/49
2. Phoenix, 25.8/48
3. Indianapolis, 21.3/36
4. Baltimore, 20.2/35
5. Portland, 19.7/34
6. St. Louis, 18.9/32
7. New Orleans, 18.4/29
8. Ft. Myers, 17.7/31
9. West Palm Beach, 17.4/29
10. Philadelphia, 17.3/31
Gm. 2 – Colts-Chargers – Top 10 Markets:
1. Indianapolis, 45.3/64
2. San Diego, 38.6/63
3. Nashville, 29.8/42
4. Baltimore, 25.1/39
5. Portland, 24.5/36
6. Ft. Myers, 22.8/35
T7. Phoenix, 21.8/36
T7. New Orleans, 21.8/31
9. Charlotte, 21.6/33
T10. Kansas City, 21.2/34
T 10. Las Vegas, 21.2/31
You look at the 60+ shares in Indianapolis and San Diego meaning over 60% of all TV’s in both markets were tuned to the game and it translates to great ratings. We’ll see how today’s Wild Card games do for their respective networks. It certainly helped that both of Saturday’s games were on one network.
