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Fox' Packers-Cowboys Thriller Is Most-Viewed NFL Divisional Playoff Game On Record

The Packers' last-second win over the Cowboys on Sunday drew 48.5 million viewers on Fox, marking the most-viewed NFL Divisional Playoff game on record. The game marks the most-viewed single-network telecast of any kind since Super Bowl 50 last year. Packers-Cowboys also is up 13% from 43.0 million viewers for Broncos-Steelers on CBS last year, which aired in the same Sunday late afternoon window. Fox in '15 drew 44.4 million viewers for a Packers-Cowboys Divisional Playoff game, but that aired in the early Sunday window. Packers-Cowboys this past Sunday kicked off with 34.3 million viewers before peaking at 62.4 million viewers at the end of the game from 7:45-8:00pm ET. Packers-Cowboys also marks Fox Sports Go's most-watched authenticated NFL game ever on the streaming platform and second-best event ever, behind only Cubs-Indians World Series Game 7. Later on Sunday, NBC benefited from the NFL moving Steelers-Chiefs from the 1:00pm window to primetime due to a forecast of adverse weather in the K.C. area. The game marked the first Sunday night primetime game for Wild Card or Divisional weekend. NBC drew 37.1 million viewers for Steelers-Chiefs, marking the most-watched primetime playoff game ever on either Wild Card or Divisional weekend. The previous primetime record from the playoffs' opening two weekends was 34.4 million viewers for the Saints-Eagles Wild Card matchup on NBC in '14 on a Saturday night. Excluding Super Bowls, Steelers-Chiefs marks NBC's best playoff audience since it re-acquired NFL TV rights prior to the '06 season (NBC did not get Divisional game telecasts until '15). Saturday night saw the Patriots defeat the Texans 34-16, with CBS drawing 29.8 million viewers for the game. That is the lowest audience for a Saturday night Divisional game since Cardinals-Panthers drew 23.8 million viewers on Fox in '09. NBC had the Saturday primetime game last year, drawing 33.7 million viewers for the Cardinals' win in OT over the Packers (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

ALL EYES ON ME
: SPORTING NEWS' Michael McCarthy wrote his "beef" with Fox' coverage of Packers-Cowboys was the "lack" of reaction shots focused on Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones. McCarthy: "As the Packers scored early touchdowns, I kept looking for Fox to show us the Cowboys owner's head exploding in his luxury box. Instead, we got zip." Once the Cowboys came back in the second half, Fox "showed a few brief reaction shots of Jones & Co. celebrating." But for a media-crazed team owner who is "usually omnipresent during these telecasts, Jones was MIA." It remains unclear if that production was a "decision by Fox or Jones," but it was "surprising" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 1/16).

THE LATE SHIFT: The N.Y. Daily News’ Bob Raissman said of the NFL possibly moving 1:00pm Sunday Divisional Playoff games to primetime, "I’m wondering if the teams would rebel against this and say, ‘You know what, we want that early game because we want all the time we can between that round and the championship game.” But SNY’s Jonas Schwartz: “Money talks.” The N.Y. Daily News' Pat Leonard: “The league will find a way (to have Sunday night games) and the players and coaches in the end are just going to have to answer to what the league and owners want.” The N.Y. Daily News’ Sal Licata said fans "should all be surprised it’s taken this long” to move a game to Sunday night, as many people have the next day off from work due to MLK Day ("Daily News Live,” SNY, 1/16). YAHOO SPORTS' Dan Wetzel wrote of Sunday night NFL playoff games, "Don't do it." Putting more games in primetime would be "pig-fattening." Daytime games mean "more young people can watch the entire game and become enthralled in the sport." The NFL has the "resources and resolve to continue to buck the trend and stick with what got it here." The league "doesn't need to chase primetime audiences in the postseason" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 1/16).

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