Steelers-Jets Is Most-Watched AFC Championship Game Ever

CBS’ coverage of the Steelers-Jets AFC Championship Game earned a fast-national rating of 28.3 and an average of 54.85 million viewers, making it the most-watched AFC title game ever. The previous high in viewership was 51.62 million for Bengals-Chargers in '82. The 28.3 rating is up 7.6% from last year's Colts-Jets AFC title game (26.3), which fell in the early window, but down 7.5% from the Saints-Vikings NFC Championship (30.6), which aired in the comparable late window. It also marked the highest rating for an AFC Championship game since Patriots-Jaguars earned a 28.5 in '97.

Meanwhile, Fox earned a 28.1 fast-national rating and an average of 51.9 million viewers for Packers-Bears yesterday, making it the most watched NFC Championship game in the early broadcast window ever on any network. The game’s 28.1 fast-national rating is up 6.8% from last year’s AFC Championship game in the same window, but down 8.2% from last year’s NFC Championship, airing in the late window (THE DAILY).