The NFL has the numbers from last weekend’s Wild Card Playoffs and says it was the most watched in five years.
I think there was high interest in the Indianapolis-San Diego game plus Philadelphia-Minnesota in the late Sunday afternoon slot did well. Here’s the release from the National Football League.
AVERAGE OF 25.8 MILLION FANS WATCHED EACH GAME
EAGLES-VIKINGS ON FOX: MOST-WATCHED SHOW OF TV SEASON
COLTS-CHARGERS ON NBC: MOST WATCHED SATURDAY WILD CARD GAME IN 10 YEARS
Football fans across America continue to tune in to NFL games, resulting in the most watched Wild Card weekend in five years. An average of 25.8 million fans watched NFL games last weekend, the most for an NFL Wild Card Weekend since January 2003 (game-by-game comparison below) and a five percent increase from last season (24.6 million viewers).
Sunday’s Philadelphia Eagles-Minnesota Vikings game on FOX drew 30.0 million viewers and is the most-watched show of the TV season.
Saturday night’s Indianapolis Colts-San Diego Chargers game on NBC drew 27.8 million viewers to rank as the most-watched Saturday Wild Card game in 10 years (30.7 million for Cardinals-Cowboys on ABC, 1/2/99).
Wild Card Weekend games also ranked as the top four shows among all programs for the week (Dec. 29-Jan. 4).
2008 NFL Wild Card Playoffs
|
Date & Time |
Network (Game) |
Viewers |
|
Sat. Jan. 3, 2009 — 4:30 PM ET |
NBC (Falcons at Cardinals) |
21.0 million |
|
Sat. Jan. 3, 2009 – 8:00 PM ET |
NBC (Colts at Chargers) |
27.8 million |
|
Sun. Jan. 4, 2009 — 1:00 PM ET |
CBS (Ravens at Dolphins) |
23.9 million |
|
Sun. Jan. 4, 2009 – 4:30 PM ET |
FOX (Eagles at Vikings) |
30.0 million |
|
WILD CARD WEEKEND |
AVERAGE |
25.8 million |
2003 NFL Wild Card Playoffs
|
Date & Time |
Network (Game) |
Viewers |
|
Sat. Jan. 3, 2004 — 4:30 PM ET |
ABC (Titans at Ravens) |
22.7 million |
|
Sat. Jan. 3, 2004 – 8:00 PM ET |
ABC (Cowboys at Panthers) |
24.7 million |
|
Sun. Jan. 4, 2004 — 1:00 PM ET |
FOX (Seahawks at Packers) |
29.3 million |
|
Sun. Jan. 4, 2004 – 4:30 PM ET |
CBS (Broncos at Colts) |
26.2 million |
|
WILD CARD WEEKEND |
AVERAGE |
25.9 million |
Source: NFL & Nielsen Media Research
So the NFL continues to crow about its ratings as it should. This is giving the league plenty of momentum into this weekend which has the Giants and Philadelphia as a marquee matchup.
