Ratings Roundup: NFL Divisional Round Games Hit Viewership Highs Across Networks, Averaging 40 Million Viewers

Sunday’s Big Ten women’s college basketball game on NBC and Peacock featuring Ohio State’s thrilling overtime victory over Caitlin Clark and Iowa averaged 1.93 million viewers – with 1.86 million viewers on NBC stations, ranking as the most-watched regular season women’s college basketball game on any network since 2010.

Viewership peaked at 3.9 million viewers in overtime from 2:00-2:18 p.m. ET, as Ohio State pulled away and secured the 100-92 victory.

Buckeyes forward Cotie McMahon (33 points, 12 rebounds) and guard Jacy Sheldon (24 points) 1ed Ohio State while Clark, the reigning National Player of the Year, tallied 45 points and seven assists for the Hawkeyes.

Peacock’s exclusive slate of Big Ten women’s basketball, featuring 20+ games streaming live this season, continues this Thursday, Jan. 25, as No. 12 Ohio State (15-3) visits Illinois at 7 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock.

The Detroit Lions’ 31-23 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday ranks as NBC Sports’ most watched NFL Divisional Playoff game since 1994, averaging a Total Audience Delivery of 40.4 million viewers across NBC TV, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital platforms, according to Nielsen custom fast national data and Adobe Analytics.

Highlighted by quarterbacks Jared Goff of Detroit and Baker Mayfield of Tampa Bay combining to pass for more than 600 yards and five touchdowns, and tie scores in each of the first three quarters, the game’s audience peaked at 49.1 million viewers from 6-6:12 p.m. ET as the Bucs mounted a final drive to attempt to tie the score.

Led by Peacock, Bucs-Lions delivered NBC Sports’ third consecutive NFL Playoff simulstream audience of at least 3 million viewers, registering an Average Minute Audience of 3.3 million viewers across Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital Properties.

The three NFL Playoff games over the last two weekends on NBC averaged approximately 31.9 million viewers on broadcast alone – the largest NFL Playoff audience average for NBC stations since 2020.

Additional ratings and viewership notes:

TOP METERED MARKETS FOR BUCCANEERS-LIONS (based on 44 markets available):

Texans at Ravens Delivers Nearly 32 Million Viewers, Becoming ESPN’s Most-Watched NFL Game Ever

ESPN’s NFL Divisional Playoff presentation was a record-shattering showdown for ESPN, marking consecutive years in which the final game of the season was its most-watched NFL game ever, playoffs or regular season, dating back to 1987 when ESPN acquired NFL rights. The record viewership joins Monday Night Football in cementing a landmark season for the NFL on ESPN.

With an audience of 31.8 million – based on Nielsen fast nationals – Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens (Saturday, Jan. 20) surpasses the 2023 Super Wild Card Monday night game featuring the Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (January 16, 2023) for ESPN’s top spot. Please note: ESPN’s audience is expected to elevate to more than 32 million when Nielsen reports final numbers this week.

The Texans-Ravens audience peaked at 36.2 million viewers in the third quarter (6:30 – 6:45 p.m. ET).

ESPN’s Five Most-Watched Games Since Ever Have Aired Previous 13 Months; Multiple Monday Night Football Games Amongst the Records

With the addition of this season’s ESPN’s Super Wild Card Monday night game (Eagles at Buccaneers), ESPN’s three most-recent playoff games are also its three most-watched NFL games ever.

Inclusive of all games, regular season and playoffs, ESPN has aired its five most-watched games ever in the past 13 months (January 2023 to January 2024) and six of the seven highest-viewed games, buoyed by a record-setting 2023 Monday Night Football season.

ESPN’s Most-Watched Games Ever, Dating Back to 1987

Rank	NFL Season	Date	Game	Viewership	Monday Night Football or Playoff Game
1	2023-24	January 20, 2024	Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens	31,767,000	Playoff
2	2022-23	January 16, 2023	Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	31,201,000	Playoff
3	2023-24	January 15, 2024	Philadelphia Eagles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	29,132,000	Playoff
4	2023-24	November 22, 2023	Philadelphia Eagles at Kansas City Chiefs	28,962,000	Monday Night Football
5	2023-24	December 25, 2023	Baltimore Ravens at San Francisco 49ers	27,616,000	Monday Night Football
6	2019-20	January 4, 2020	Buffalo Bills at Houston Texans	26,972,000	Playoff
7	2023-24	December 30, 2023	Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys	26,061,000	Monday Night Football

All ESPN produced Games. All games aired on, at least, ESPN and ABC, except Christmas Day game which was only on ABC.

The streak of most-watched games coincides with the implementation of the newest rights agreements between ESPN and the NFL, as well as Joe Buck and Troy Aikman joining Monday Night Football.

Texans-Ravens is Disney’s Most-Watched NFL Game Outside of Super Bowls
The Texans-Ravens’ 31.8 million viewers also marks Disney’s most-watched NFL game, excluding Super Bowls. The audience of 31,767,000 viewers bested all 24 Disney NFL Playoff games in the previous 28 years, including 14 exclusively on ABC (1996-2005), nine available on ABC and ESPN (2016-23) and one solely on ESPN (2015).  The game also surpassed every regular season game exclusively on ABC since 1996.

Please note: Disney’s ownership of ABC/ESPN began February 1996
Disney has aired Super Bowl XXXIV, Super Bowl XXXVI, and Super Bowl XL.

Texans-Ravens to Potentially Best All Early Divisional Playoff Games Dating Back to 2015
Looking across all networks, with its current viewership (31.8 million), ESPN’s game already surpasses every Divisional Saturday early game window (4:30 p.m.) dating back to 2015, except last season’s (Jaguars-Chiefs, 32.3 million). ESPN could surpass that viewership as well, needing only to boost its audience by 2% (500,000 viewers).

Playoff Success Cements Record Year for ESPN
ESPN’s record-breaking playoff viewership follows a history-making fall for Monday Night Football viewership. The 2023 Monday Night Football season is the franchise’s most watched since the 2000 NFL season, with viewership surpassing each of the previous 18 seasons in the ESPN era (2006 – present) and the five seasons leading into that era when MNF aired singularly on ABC. The franchise was up 29% year-over-year.

FOX NFL Divisional Round Projects to be Most-Watched Saturday Telecast on Any Network Since 1994 Winter Olympics

With 37.5 million viewers, Saturday’s NFL playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers projects to be the most-watched Saturday telecast on any network since the 1994 Winter Olympics – peaking at 40.9 million from 11:00-11:15 PM ET.

The FOX NFL Divisional Round delivery is up +31% over last year’s game that aired in the same window (28.6 million for New York Giants-Philadelphia Eagles).