NFL Wild Card weekend averaged 28.4 million viewers across ABC/ESPN, Fox, CBS and NBC, up 12% from last season, which was the lowest mark in a decade. Each window this season saw year-over-year gains. This past weekend’s four-game-average is down from 30.3 million viewers two years ago. NBC led all Wild Card telecasts with 35.9 million viewers for Eagles-Bears in the late Sunday afternoon window. That is up from 31.1 million viewers for Saints-Panthers on Fox in the same window last year. It also marks NBC’s best Wild Card since at least ’88. The previous high was Seahawks-Oilers in ’88 (35.9 million). When streaming is included, NBC had a total audience delivery of 36.4 million viewers for the game. Meanwhile, CBS finished with 25.4 million viewers for Chargers-Ravens in Sunday’s early afternoon window, up from 25.3 million for Jaguars-Bills last year. The NFL also saw a 139% increase in game streaming for Wild Card weekend. The four games had an average minute audience of 496,000 viewers, up from 208,000 last year. NBC had its best Wild Card streaming yet with an AMA of 533,000 viewers for Eagles-Bears (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
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NFL WILD CARD WEEKEND AUDIENCE (FOUR GAMES)
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YEAR
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NETWORKS
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AVERAGE VIEWERS (000)
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'19
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ESPN/ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox
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28,400
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'18
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ESPN/ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox
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25,293
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'17
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ESPN/ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox
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30,274
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'16
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ESPN/ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox
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32,600
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'15
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ESPN, NBC, CBS, Fox
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29,900
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IMMORTAL DOINK: In Chicago, Phil Thompson writes NBC's Cris Collinsworth "created an instant classic" with his "double doink" call of Bears K Cody Parkey's missed field goal to seal the Eagles' 16-15 win over the Bears on Sunday. Al Michael's initial call of "Ah, it hits the upright again," may "get a few turns in future highlight reels," but Collinsworth's expression was "immediately codified online by fans, sports sites, other media types and even the Eagles official Twitter account" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 1/8).
CALLING IT LIKE IT IS: SI.com's Jimmy Traina wrote Michaels was "fed up" with referees "showing their complete ineptitude" during Eagles-Bears, and could not hold back any longer. At one point, NBC's referee analyst Terry McAulay was in the booth, and Michaels asked the "question all fans have wondered about the refs at some point: 'They're not making this up on the fly, are they?'" Not many announcers could "get away with this line without hearing from a network executive and/or the NFL," and Michaels might "hear something this week, but he doesn't care." That is the "perk of being the best in the business" (SI.com, 1/7). Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Rob Tornoe wrote during Chargers-Ravens, CBS' Tony Romo at one point described Chargers QB Philip Rivers as being "pissed." The CBS closed captioning "went with 'upset' instead." Despite the "racy language, Romo actually called a great game with all the enthusiasm you've come to expect" (PHILLY.com, 1/7).
LOCAL MARKET DRAWS: In San Diego, Jay Posner noted the ratings for the Chargers' first playoff game in five years Sunday was "not as high (of course)" in San Diego as '14, but still "earned a strong 30.7 rating." The rating was down 21% from a 38.8 for the Chargers' "last postseason game" (SANDIEGOUNIONTRIBUNE.com, 1/7)....NBC Sports Philadelphia drew a 5.1 local rating for its "Eagles Postgame Live" coverage after Eagles-Bears, which marks the highest-rated "Eagles Postgame Live" since '10 (NBC Sports Philadelphia).
