Taylor Swift, Jerrod Carmichael, Cara Delevingne and a shirtless Jason Kelce were in good company on Sunday.
CBS’ broadcast of the NFL Divisional Playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills averaged 39.3 million total viewers from 7 to 10 pm ET on Sunday evening.
The very close contest, which the Chiefs wound up winning by a score of 27-24, also averaged a 9.9 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic.
The total Chiefs/Bills audience cited above marks a 14% gain in viewership versus the comparable year-ago match-up between the Cowboys and 49ers (San Francisco bested Dallas 19-12), and a 9% increase in the demo. [Reply]
I can't wait for the boycotts when they do send the Super Bowl overseas. That'll be a great year, I can safely say that if the Chiefs aren't in that Super Bowl, count me out. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Shiver Me Timbers:
I laughed hard at that one.
Oh, by the way- I have no idea who she is.
Model & actress. Was recently in the series, Only Murders in the Building. Was lead actress in an Amazon Prime series, Carnival Row, and has been in a number of other shows. [Reply]
Drama still pulls in viewers as the taut Chiefs victory made history, and the blowout Eagles win definitely didn’t.
Sunday’s NFL conference championship games provided two very different viewership realities, with one game making history, and the other extending a lengthy viewership decline for the league this season.
CBS averaged an audience of 57.7 million for the AFC title game between the Bills and Chiefs, dramatically won by Kansas City 32–29, with that viewership representing the most-watched AFC championship game since the late 1980s advent of Nielsen’s People Meter measurement system. The figure surpassed last year’s NFC title contest, also played in the later broadcast slot and drawing 56.7 million, by 1.7%.
The contest also ranks as the No. 2 in all-time viewership for the NFL in non–Super Bowl games in the last 37 years, trailing only the 2009 NFC title game between the Saints and Vikings, won by New Orleans in overtime and drawing an average of 57.9 million.
Fox, meanwhile, had a very different situation for the NFC championship game Sunday, won handily by the Eagles over the Commanders 55–23 in the earlier broadcast slot. The game averaged 44.2 million, down by 21% from the comparable draw of 55.7 million for the AFC title game last year—a figure that was a record for that conference matchup until Sunday.
The weaker figure for the NFC game—the worst for that conference title game since the 2018 season (Rams at Saints), and before the arrival of Nielsen’s counting of out-of-home audiences—extends declines seen throughout the NFL’s 2024 regular season, wild-card round, and divisional playoffs. It also helps create a more difficult situation for Fox to match the record-setting audience seen last year for Super Bowl LVIII with the upcoming Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9 between the Chiefs and Eagles.
The television audience for the AFC game, however, does additionally provide a counterargument to “Chiefs fatigue” that may be currently at play in a declining ticket resale market for Super Bowl LIX. [Reply]
