The four NFL Playoff games this past weekend averaged 37.8 million viewers across NBC, Fox and CBS, marking the most-viewed NFL Divisional weekend ever, topping the 36.6 million viewers seen in ’11. The 37.8 million average for Divisional weekend is up from 34.0 million viewers last season. Fox’ Packers-Cowboys led Divisional weekend with 44.4 million viewers in the 1:00pm ET Sunday window, marking the net’s second-best Divisional audience on record, behind only 45.1 million viewers for Giants-Packers in ’12. Packers-Cowboys will rank as the most-viewed program on all of TV since Super Bowl XLVIII last February. Later on Sunday, CBS drew 41.8 million viewers for Colts-Broncos, marking the second-best AFC Divisional audience since at least ’87, behind only Jets-Patriots from ’11 with 43.5 million viewers. Meanwhile, NBC led Saturday’s Divisional games with 34.0 million viewers for Patriots-Ravens, marking the third-best Saturday AFC Divisional game on record. Patriots-Ravens is up 9% from Fox’ Seahawks-Saints game in the same window last season. In primetime on Saturday, Fox finished with 31.0 million viewers for Seahawks-Panthers, which was down slightly from 31.6 million viewers for NBC’s Patriots-Colts in the same window in ’14. Despite the drop for the window, Seahawks-Panthers still delivered Fox its most-viewed Saturday night ever (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
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VIEWERSHIP FOR NFL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF GAMES
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NET
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DAY
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START
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GAME
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VIEWERS
(000)
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'14 NET
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'14 GAME
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VIEWERS
(000)
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% +/-
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NBC
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Sat.
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4:00pm
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Patriots-Ravens
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34,000
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Fox
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Seahawks-Saints
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31,100
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9.3%
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|
Fox
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Sat.
|
8:30pm
|
Seahawks-Panthers
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31,000
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CBS
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Patriots-Colts
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31,600
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-1.9%
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|
Fox
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Sun.
|
1:00pm
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Packers-Cowboys
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44,400
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Fox
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49ers-Panthers
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33,300
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33.3%
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CBS
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Sun.
|
4:30pm
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Colts-Broncos
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41,800
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CBS
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Broncos-Chargers
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41,200
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1.5%
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|
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STAYING TRUE TO HIS WORD: NBC’s Cris Collinsworth appeared on NBCSN’s “Pro Football Talk” yesterday to discuss the
comments he made during Saturday's Patriots-Ravens game concerning Roger Goodell, and he reiterated he has "never questioned the integrity" of the commissioner. Collinsworth said, "I've had hundreds of incidents that I've had to deal with him over the years. I talked to him specifically about this one at the Hall of Fame Game, and he essentially told me right to my face ... ‘No, I never saw the elevator video.’ I believed him then. The Mueller Report came out and said that they found that he didn’t see that video, and I said, ‘I never questioned his integrity,’ which I never have. So I don't know exactly why that became the issue that it did, but it was something we felt like we had to address." He added, "Let's face it, here’s a guy that was … accused of lying. ... It was front-page news with the accusation, and yet when the vindication came out with the Mueller Report, all of a sudden it goes to page 47. We thought that it deserved to be what it was -- the big news story of the day. We did it and I probably editorialized, I guess, too much by saying that in my hundreds of dealings with this guy, I've never had any reason to question his integrity” (
“PFT,” NBCSN, 1/12). But in Baltimore, David Zurawik wrote observers "were shocked" to see Collinsworth and broadcast partner Al Michaels "acting and sounding like a couple of lackey puppets in a totalitarian government telling the masses how virtuous and illustrious their leader is." Zurawik: "It was sad to see you and Michaels kissing the ring this way" (
BALTIMORESUN.com, 1/12).
NICE PICK UP: On Long Island, Neil Best writes Fox' "brilliant" decision to hire Mike Pereira in '10 as its NFL rules analyst has "grown more so over time." And that was "reinforced Sunday" during the controversial no-catch ruling in Packers-Cowboys (NEWSDAY, 1/13).
CLEARLY CANADIAN: This past weekend's four NFL Divisional Playoff games averaged 1.4 million viewers on CTV, up 11% over last year. Packers-Cowboys led the weekend on CTV with 1.6 million viewers, while the 1.56 million viewers for Patriots-Ravens made it the most-watched program on Saturday (CTV).
