Overview
- The four-game weekend averaged 39.2 million viewers per window, up 5% year over year and the second-highest divisional-round average on record since 1988.
- NBC’s Rams–Bears overtime game drew 45.4 million viewers, the network’s biggest divisional broadcast, with a peak of 52.6 million and the largest NBC Sports Digital NFL audience outside Super Bowls.
- CBS’s Bills–Broncos averaged 39.6 million viewers, the most-watched Saturday NFL playoff game on record, peaking at 51.3 million and marking the biggest Saturday telecast since the 1994 Winter Olympics.
- ESPN/ABC’s Texans–Patriots averaged 37.97 million viewers, the largest audience in ESPN history and Disney’s biggest non–Super Bowl sporting event, with a 44.9 million peak late in the second half.
- Fox’s 49ers–Seahawks rout averaged about 32 million viewers, a modest decline from last year in the same window, underscoring the impact of game competitiveness on audience size.