Fox’ Seahawks-49ers and CBS’ Broncos-Patriots combined to draw 53.7 million viewers on Sunday, which is tied with ’11 as the most-watched Conference Championship Sunday in more than 30 years, as heavily hyped matchups and a close NFC title game delivered for both networks. Fox earned a 28.5 fast-national rating and 55.9 million viewers for the Seahawks’ defeat of the 49ers in the NFC Championship on Sunday night. The rating is the best for a non-OT NFC title game since Packers-Panthers drew a 30.1 rating in ’97, while the viewership is the best for a non-OT NFC title game since 49ers-Cowboys drew 56.8 million viewers in ’95. The 55.9 million viewers also is the fifth-best audience for any Conference Championship game on record. CBS finished with a 28.1 rating and 51.3 million viewers for the Broncos-Patriots AFC Championship. Those figures mark the second-best AFC title game rating in 17 years (dating back to a 28.5 for Patriots-Jaguars in ’97) and second-best AFC title game viewership in 32 years (dating back to 51.6 million viewers for Bengals-Chargers in ’82) (THE DAILY).
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NFC CHAMPIONSHIP AUDIENCE TREND ON FOX
|
|
YEAR
|
RATING
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
MATCHUP
|
|
'14
|
28.5
|
55,900
|
Seahawks-49ers
|
|
'13
|
24.2
|
42,000
|
49ers-Falcons
|
|
'12
|
30.6
|
57,635
|
Giants-49ers
|
|
'11
|
28.1
|
51,884
|
Packers-Bears
|
|
'10
|
30.6
|
57,933
|
Saints-Vikings
|
|
'09
|
21.9
|
38,387
|
Eagles-Cardinals
|
|
'08
|
29.0
|
53,937
|
Giants-Packers
|
|
'07
|
25.1
|
43,247
|
Bears-Saints
|
|
'06
|
20.8
|
35,233
|
Seahawks-Panthers
|
|
'05
|
25.8
|
42,937
|
Eagles-Falcons
|
|
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP AUDIENCE TREND ON CBS
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|
YEAR
|
RATING
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
MATCHUP
|
|
'14
|
28.1
|
51,300
|
Broncos-Patriots
|
|
'13
|
25.5
|
47,700
|
Ravens-Patriots
|
|
'12
|
27.4
|
48,676
|
Patriots-Ravens
|
|
'11
|
28.3
|
54,850
|
Jets-Steelers
|
|
'10
|
26.3
|
46,917
|
Colts-Jets
|
|
'09
|
22.0
|
40,645
|
Steelers-Ravens
|
|
'08
|
25.7
|
44,840
|
Patriots-Chargers
|
|
'07
|
26.4
|
46,695
|
Colts-Patriots
|
|
'06
|
23.6
|
39,001
|
Steelers-Broncos
|
|
'05
|
25.8
|
44,334
|
Patriots-Steelers
|
| |
|
|
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CULTURAL EXPORT: Seahawks-49ers also averaged 2.7 million viewers on CTV, marking the highest audience ever for a non-Super Bowl NFL Playoff game in Canada. The telecast was the most-watched program in Canada for the weekend. The game was up 45% compared to 49ers-Falcons last year on CTV. Broncos-Patriots averaged 2.2 million viewers on CTV, up 12% from Ravens-Patriots in ’13. For conference championship Sunday, CTV saw its doubleheader average up 28% compared to last year (CTV).
