ESPN touts largest audience ever for Texans-Patriots, Rams-Bears sets Divisional Round record for NBC

Since the network’s launch in 1979, ESPN has not seen an audience larger than what it captured on Sunday, at least when adding in the tens of millions of viewers watching on ABC.

ESPN and ABC averaged 38 million viewers for its Sunday afternoon telecast of the Houston Texans-New England Patriots game in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs, which the network is claiming as the most-watched event in its history. Only previous Super Bowls under the old ABC Sports umbrella have earned higher viewership for a live sporting event on a Disney-owned network. Disney purchased ABC and ESPN in 1996. Under prior ownership, numerous ABC Sports properties would’ve surpassed Sunday’s audience.

Of course other events, like college football national title games or ESPN-exclusive Monday Night Football telecasts, likely surpassed Sunday’s viewership on an ESPN-only basis, making the network’s claim, which counts tens of millions of viewers watching on the free-to-air ABC, a bit silly. (A full breakdown of viewership between ABC and ESPN wasn’t immediately available.)

New England’s win drew essentially even with last year’s Rams-Eagles game in the comparable window, which averaged 37.8 million viewers on NBC. Both this year and last year were outpaced by Buccaneers-Lions in 2024, which averaged 40.4 million viewers, also on NBC. It should be noted, neither the 2024 nor 2025 measurements include Nielsen’s expanded out-of-home viewing and Big Data + Panel measurements. All things being equal, it’s likely that Sunday’s game would’ve finished with smaller audiences than both of the two prior seasons.

ESPN’s telecast of Sunday’s Texans–Patriots matchup became the most-watched event in ESPN history, dating back to the network’s launch in 1979, with 38 million viewers. The game also ranks as Disney’s most-watched sporting event outside of the Super Bowl across nearly three… pic.twitter.com/KtOwBryjc9

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 22, 2026

Later Sunday evening, a thrilling overtime game between the Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears earned 45.4 million viewers across NBC and its associated streaming platforms (which are measured by Adobe Analytics). That figure is good for an 8% year-over-year increase compared to Ravens-Bills in the comparable window last season (42.2 million viewers on CBS). The Rams’ win is now NBC’s most-watched Divisional Round game in the Nielsen Portable People Meter era, which dates back to 1988. It falls short of the record-setting Chiefs-Bills game in 2024, which earned 50.4 million viewers on CBS.

Blockbuster Audience for Rams-Bears NFL Divisional Playoff Sets NBC Sports Recordhttps://t.co/I93QvxLE53 pic.twitter.com/cNxY1wIMeP

— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) January 22, 2026

All told, two of the NFL’s four Divisional Round games saw viewership increases versus last year: Bills-Broncos on Saturday afternoon and Rams-Bears on Sunday night. The Sunday afternoon Texans-Patriots game drew practically even, and the 49ers-Seahawks blowout on Saturday night saw a slight decline.

Given the recent changes to Nielsen’s methodologies, it’s fair to expect increases to most windows. Of course, even the Nielsen changes cannot overcome a dud game like 49ers-Seahawks.

This weekend’s conference championship games are the final two major television events that will benefit from comparisons to Nielsen figures prior to expanded out-of-home measurements, which were implemented during last year’s Super Bowl. As such, they should see quite a nice bump compared to last year, assuming both games deliver on the field.