Jan 22, 2023; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (1) catches a pass and turns in for a touchdown in the first quarter against the Buffalo Bills during an AFC divisional round game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Greene-USA TODAY Sports
By Joe Lucia on

The Divisional round of the NFL playoffs is in the books, and three of four windows were up from last year.

Starting off the weekend, Jaguars-Chiefs averaged 34.3 million on NBC and its platforms via the network’s Total Audience Delivery metric, which is up from last year’s early Saturday game (Bengals-Titans, 30.75 million on CBS).  It’s also the most-watched Saturday afternoon Divisional game since 2013. NBC also noted that an average minute audience of 2.02 million watched the game across Peacock and other digital platforms, a non-Super Bowl record for an NBC NFL game.

Saturday night on Fox, the Eagles’ blowout win over the Giants averaged 28.6 million viewers. That’s down big from last year’s game (49ers-Packers, 36.92 million on Fox), and was the least-watched game of the weekend by a significant margin.

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsPR/status/1617924913033252864?s=20&t=P5OT7wx-Gjwg5CLS1ptWmg

On CBS, the Bengals’ win over the Bills averaged 39.323 million viewers in the early window. That’s up from the early Sunday game last year (Rams-Bucs, 38.14 million on NBC). It’s also the most-watched AFC Divisional game in the early window on record.

https://twitter.com/CBSSportsGang/status/1617896598562041856?s=20&t=P5OT7wx-Gjwg5CLS1ptWmg

Finally, Fox delivered a huge number in the final window of the weekend on Sunday, averaging 45.7 million viewers for 49ers-Cowboys. That’s up from last year (Bills-Chiefs, 42.74 million on CBS), and also ranks as the second-most watched Divisional game on record.

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsPR/status/1617907281726955521?s=20&t=P5OT7wx-Gjwg5CLS1ptWmg

 

A friendly reminder that out of home viewing was not included in viewership for games prior to the 2020 season, adding a caveat to some of these historical comparisons.

This Sunday, we’ve got the two conference championship games – 49ers vs Eagles in the early window on Fox, and Bengals vs Chiefs in the late window on CBS.

[Data via ShowBuzz Daily, Sports Media Watch]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

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