Heading Into Super Bowl LVII, NFL Postseason Ratings Remain Strong

Last weekend the NFL completed its 12-postseason game schedule to determine who would play in Super Bowl LVII. With a bye week and a home field advantage throughout the playoffs, the two top seeded teams, Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs survived the 14-team tournament to advance to Super Bowl LVII.

Leading up to the Super Bowl, the NFL postseason games has for years ranked among the most watched programs on television. For example, in 2022 all 12 postseason games ranked among 33 of most watched programs of the year. This year should be no exception.

Wild Card Weekend: The opening weekend of the NFL postseason had six wild card games, two on Saturday, three on Sunday and Monday night. In total, the six games averaged 28.4 million viewers, a drop-off from last year’s average of 29.65 million viewers. Despite four of the six games being decided by one score, only two of the six games reported a year-over-year increase based on the time period. Also, the teams in all six matchups had already played each other during the regular season.

The most watched of the six games was the late afternoon Sunday matchup between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings. The contest on Fox averaged 33.2 million viewers. Despite being the top-rated of the weekend, the wild card game wound up being the third lowest over the past 14 years for a late Sunday afternoon contest. The viewing was also 20% lower than last year’s late Sunday afternoon audience.

Another wild card game that averaged 30+ million viewers was Monday Night’s marquee matchup between the Dallas Cowboys (always a TV favorite) and the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The game was available on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes and averaged 31.2 million viewers. Not only was the viewing the second best of the weekend, it marked a 36% increase over last year’s Monday night contest.

The only other game that surpassed 30 million viewers was the early Sunday afternoon game featuring division rivals Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills. The contest aired on CBS and averaged 30.9 million viewers making it the most watched Sunday AFC wild card game in nine years and a 2% increase from last year’s game.

The most exciting game of wild card weekend was on Saturday night when the Jacksonville Jaguars, led by second-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence, mounted a 27-point comeback to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers with a last second field goal. The Saturday night game on NBC averaged 20.6 million viewers, a 20% decline from last year and ranked among the lowest rated NFL postseason primetime game of all-time.

NBC’s other wild card game on Sunday primetime featured division rivals Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens. The game averaged 26.9 million viewers, a year-over-year decline of 7%.

The Saturday afternoon game on Fox between division rivals San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks averaged 26.9 million viewers, a slight fall-off from one year ago.

Division Round Weekend: The division round the following weekend consists of two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday. Ratings were comparable to last year’s audience delivery. Collectively, the four games in 2023 averaged 37.0 million viewers compared to 37.1 million last January. The two games on Sunday averaged more viewers than Saturday’s two games.

The highlight of the four-game weekend was the game between the long-time postseason rivals Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers. The game played on Sunday night on Fox averaged 45.65 million viewers, making it the most watched divisional playoff game in six years (when out-of-home TV viewing was not available). Last year’s Sunday night game had averaged 42.7 million viewers.

The Sunday afternoon game was a marquee matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills featuring two of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL; Joe Burrow and Josh Allen. The game aired on CBS and Paramount+ and averaged 39.3 million viewers. The game was the most watched Sunday afternoon divisional round game in eight years. It was also the most watched Sunday afternoon AFC divisional playoff game ever. Last year’s Sunday afternoon game averaged 38.1 million.

The Saturday afternoon game on NBC and Peacock between the top seeded Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars averaged 34.3 million viewers. The strong audience delivery made it the most-watched Saturday afternoon divisional game in ten years. NBC said the average minute audience on digital platforms including Peacock was 2.0 million. By comparison, last year’s Saturday afternoon divisional round game averaged 30.75 million viewers.

The Saturday night game between division rivals New York Giants and top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles was the only lopsided score of the weekend. As a result, the average audience on Fox numbered 28.6 million viewers. It was the only divisional round game with an average audience below 30 million viewers. In contrast, last year’s Saturday night game averaged nearly 37 million viewers.

Conference Championship Games: Typically, after the Super Bowl, the two most watched programs every year are the two conference championship games. This year’s matchups were the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers in the NFC and, in a rematch from last year, the Cincinnati Bengals versus the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC. The pair of conference championship games averaged 50.3 million viewers, an increase from last season’s average of 49.0 million viewers. It is also the most watched pair of title games in ten years.

Helping to boost the audience delivery for the NFL over the past three seasons has been Nielsen’s inclusion of out-of-home TV viewing. SportsMediaWatch points out five of six NFL conference title games since out-of-home has been added have averaged at least 45 million viewers; compared to only one of the previous six conference title games.

NFC: For the second straight week, the Philadelphia Eagles won a postseason game by easily defeating the San Francisco 49ers who had two quarterbacks injured during the game. Fox televised the game played on Sunday afternoon which averaged 47.5 million viewers. By comparison, last year’s NFC championship game played in primetime between San Francisco and Los Angeles Rams had averaged 50.4 million viewers.

AFC: The AFC championship game was a seesaw battle won by Kansas City with a game winning field goal with three seconds left. The game on CBS averaged 53.1 million viewers, the highest audience for any conference title game in four years. Last season’s championship game played in the afternoon averaged 47.85 million viewers (when Cincinnati defeated Kansas City to advance to the Super Bowl).

On February 12 in Glendale, Arizona, the Philadelphia Eagles will play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII on Fox.