More than 20 million watch NBC-aired NFL Wild Card games
STAMFORD — NBC Sports’ coverage last weekend of two of the NFL Wild Card playoff games attracted more than 22 million viewers for each contest, as the Stamford-based broadcaster drew two of prime-time television’s three largest audiences since last February.
The Cleveland Browns victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, 48-37, averaged 26 million viewers across the NBC broadcast channel, Telemundo, NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming plat
form and other digital services, according to data released Tuesday by Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. The NBC-only audience of 24.8 million ranked as television’s most-watched prime-time show since the last Super Bowl on Feb. 2.
Marking the Browns’ first playoff win since 1994, the contest was the first live NFL game carried on Peacock. It delivered an “average minute audience” of about 1 million viewers across Peacock and other digital platforms. It ranked as the most-streamed NBC NFL game, excluding Super Bowls.
In the other playoff game, an average total audience of 22.2 million, including a TV-only average of 21.4 million, watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat of Washington Football Team, 31-23.
“The Browns-Steelers rematch was littered with compelling story lines and supported by two rabid fan bases. Similarly, the Buccaneers game was bolstered by Tom Brady’s singular presence,” said Josh Shuart, director of sports management at Sacred Heart University’s Jack Welch College of Business & Technology. “Unlike many regular-season games, which were hampered by delays and rescheduling, each game appeared in prime time this weekend with little competition. I think these are the ratings that the NFL has been waiting for.”
NBC will air one more game in this season’s playoffs, when the Buffalo Bills host the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday in an AFC divisional match-up.
“Sunday Night Football” from NBC Sports is on track to finish as the most-watched prime-time program for a record 10th-straight year, according to data released last week. During the 2020 regular season, the show has averaged a total of 17.4 million viewers across all platforms.
Viewership dropped about 15 percent from 2019 — in large because of disruption related to the coronavirus crisis — but the program’s grip on the No. 1 position still appears secure for the foreseeable future.
“It has been a tough year, comparatively, for the broadcast king NFL,” Shuart said. “But now that the playoffs have started, I would expect the ratings to be more in line with recent historical numbers.”