The NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend delivered four close games but overall disappointing viewership for the six-game roster.
On Saturday, Fox’s broadcast of the 49ers hit the Seahawks averaged 27.460 million viewers. That’s less than last year’s Saturday afternoon game (Raiders-Bengals, 27.70 million on NBC).
In Saturday primetime, NBC’s broadcast of the Jaguars’ comeback win over the Chargers averaged 20.606 million (NBC’s Total Audience Delivery metric wasn’t immediately available, but Sports Business Journal reports 21.8 million). That’s far less than last year’s primetime game on CBS (Patriots bills, $26.37 million).
On Sunday, CBS averaged 30.871 million viewers for Bills-Dolphins in the 1 p.m. window. That’s good for them most-watched AFC wild card game on Sunday in nine years and is better than last year’s early wild card game (Eagles-Bucs, 30.37 million on Fox).
In the 4:00 p.m. Sunday window (which started closer to 5:00 p.m.), Fox hit a weekend high with 33.210 million viewers for Giants-Vikings. That’s far less than last year’s game on CBS and Nickelodeon (49ers Cowboys, 41.50 million viewers between the two networks).
In Sunday primetime, NBC averaged 26.870 million viewers for Bengals-Ravens (NBC’s Total Audience Delivery metric wasn’t immediately available, but SBJ reports 28.6 million). That’s less than last year (Steelers-Chiefs, 28.94 million).
Finally, the Cowboys’ dominant win over the Bucs drew 31.098 million viewers on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and ESPN+ on Monday. This is the most-watched non-Super Bowl playoff game of all time on the Disney networks, up from last year (Rams-Cardinals, 23.15 million).
This weekend, Fox will have a pair of games, while CBS and NBC will each have one. As you’d probably expect, Fox has both NFC games (and airs each in the late window), while NBC has Saturday’s AFC game and CBS has Sunday’s AFC game.
[Data via ShowBuzz Daily, Sports Media Watch, Sports Business Journal]