At the risk of selling the Packers short, the Cowboys delivered one last ratings gift to the NFL.
Sunday’s Packers/Cowboys NFC Divisional Round game had a 26.1 rating and 48.5 million viewers on FOX, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 11% in ratings and 13% in viewership from Steelers/Broncos last year (23.6, 43.0M) and up 12% and 16% respectively from Colts/Broncos in 2015 (23.3, 41.8M), both of which aired on CBS.
The Packers’ last second win — which peaked with a whopping 32.3 rating, 62.4 million viewers, and 52% of televisions in use from 7:45-8 PM ET — ranks as the most-watched Wild Card or Divisional Round game on record. The previous high was 47.1 million for 49ers/Packers in the 2014 Wild Card round, and the previous Divisional Round high was 45.1 million for Giants/Packers in 2012.
It also ranks as highest rated early round game in 20 years, since Cowboys/Panthers in the 1997 Divisional Round (27.6). The previous high was a 25.8 for 49ers/Packers in ’14.
For FOX, it was the highest rated and most-watched program of any kind in nearly two years — since the Packers/Seahawks NFC Championship in 2015 (27.4, 49.8M). It topped last year’s Cardinals/Panthers NFC title game, which had a 24.1 and 45.7 million.
Compared to the last playoff meeting between the Cowboys and Packers, a Divisional Round matchup two years ago, ratings increased 5% from a 24.9 and viewership 9% from 44.4 million. That game, which aired in the early 1 PM ET window, now ranks as the fourth-most watched early round game all-time.
Figures do not include the 363,000 viewers who streamed coverage on Fox Sports GO.
(Numbers from Fox Sports)
