NFL Divisional Playoff Viewership Down From Record-Setting Figures From '15 Weekend

After seeing an increase for Wild Card weekend, viewership for the NFL Divisional Playoff weekend was down from last year's record-setting figure. The four games across CBS, NBC and Fox averaged 36.1 million viewers, down from a record 37.8 million viewers in '15. However, this year's four-game figure is ahead of the 34.0 million viewers in '14. CBS' Broncos-Steelers in Sunday's late-afternoon window had the best viewership of the weekend with 43.0 million viewers, up 3% from 41.8 million viewers for the net's Colts-Broncos game in the same window last year. It also marks the second-best Sunday AFC Divisional game on any net on record (dating back to '88), behind only the '11 Patriots-Jets matchup on CBS with 43.5 million viewers. Broncos-Steelers also bled into primetime, giving CBS' "60 Minutes" its best audience in over seven years. Earlier on Sunday, Panthers-Seahawks, which saw the Panthers jump out to a 31-0 lead at halftime, finished with 36.7 million viewers, down 15% from Packers-Cowboys last year, which remains the net's second-best Divisional audience on record. Panthers-Seahawks is up 6% from 33.3 million viewers for 49ers-Panthers in '14. On Saturday, NBC drew 33.7 million viewers for the Cardinals win over the Packers in OT, up 9% from 31.0 million viewers for Seahawks-Panthers in '15 and marking the second-best Saturday primetime Divisional audience on record. Earlier on Saturday, Patriots-Chiefs on CBS drew 31.5 million viewers, down from 34.0 million viewers for Patriots-Ravens last year (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

LOOKING AHEAD: SI.com's Richard Deitsch noted if "all things are equal and neither game is a blowout," Sunday's Cardinals-Panthers NFC Championship on Fox "should out-rate" the Patriots-Broncos AFC Championship on CBS. The NFC TV markets "on the whole are bigger" in terms of total population, and there also is the "factor of the NFC having the late Sunday time slot." But given the factor of Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady, it is "tough to predict which game will draw this year." Deitsch: "I'd still lean slightly toward the Cardinals-Panthers given the late start time but the AFC Championship has the more iconic storyline and is probably the last time Brady and Manning will meet." This Sunday’s games are "unlikely to come close to the Championship game record" -- the 49ers' 28-27 win over the Cowboys in '82 drew 68.7 million viewers -- but both could "be north of the 50 million viewership mark" (SI.com, 1/18). 

MAKING THE CASE: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes CBS "deserves consideration" in its efforts to retain the "Thursday Night Football" package, having "marketed the games as promised and more than doubling viewership." But there is "logic in the league’s shopping it to another buyer." NBC seems to have a "strong case to succeed CBS because it would be able to use" the Rio Games, which start Aug. 5, as a "promotional platform for the games on multiple channels and online." If any net has a "reason to overbid for the Thursday night games, it would be Fox." Its primetime audience is the "least viewed of the Big Four networks and is ranked third this season in the 18-to-49 demographic." But sources said that there is "another option that the league is exploring." That plan would be to "expand the package to 10 games and split them between two networks." In that way, two nets "would be marketing Thursday nights, just as two networks promote and televise Sunday afternoons" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/19).