While the AFC Championship game set a viewership record for CBS, the NFC Championship game left plenty to be desired for Fox.
Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders averaged 44.2 million viewers on Fox. That would be the least-watched NFC Championship game since the Packers-49ers game in 2020, which averaged 42.8 million viewers without Nielsen’s out-of-home viewing measurement.
If one were to try to account for out-of-home viewing by giving all pre-2021 games a 10% boost—about the amount of viewership typically attributed to out-of-home viewing—Eagles vs. Commanders would be the least-watched NFC Championship game since 2009 (Eagles vs. Cardinals, 38.4 million viewers).
Per Lewis, “All six NFC games this postseason declined from last year, with four of those down by double-digits. By comparison, only three of six AFC games declined, one by double-digits. The downward trend for the NFC playoffs comes on the heels of NFC-affiliated Fox having its least-watched regular season in four years, not coincidentally since the last time the Cowboys failed to make the playoffs.”
The absence of America’s Team certainly contributed to the lackluster viewership on the NFC side this season, but the numbers also seem to support the theory that the AFC’s star power at the quarterback position has lifted that conference to new heights.
Although viewership for Sunday’s game was soft by NFC Championship standards — and certainly wasn’t helped by the lopsided scoreline — the Eagles’ win was still Fox’s most-watched telecast since last year’s NFC title game. And viewership of this magnitude is still the envy of every other professional sports league in America.
With Fox getting its shot at airing a Kansas City Chiefs game during Super Bowl LIX, the network has plenty of opportunity to reverse its season-long trend.