Though their stay in the playoffs was brief, the Dallas Cowboys helped light up the ratings on FOX Sunday afternoon.
The closely-contested NFC Divisional Game between the Giants and Cowboys drew a 25.8/43 overnight on FOX, up 17% from a 22.1 overnight for Patriots/Chargers in the comparable timeslot last year. The 25.8 rating is the highest for a Divisional round game since 1997, when the Cowboys lost to the Carolina Panthers.
The strong rating propelled FOX to win the night in both total viewers and adults 18-49. From 7:00 PM ET to 8:00 PM, FOX drew a 14.5 rating among adults 18-49 and a whopping 37.2 million viewers. To put that in perspective, the 37.2 million viewers is 62% higher than the combined viewership of the other four broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and The CW) during the same hour.
Giants/Cowboys was not the only success over the weekend, as all four NFL Divisional games saw increased ratings from last year, and three of the four games drew overnight ratings of 20 or higher.
Patriots/Jaguars drew a 20.2/33 on CBS Saturday night, up 17% from Eagles/Saints last year. The 20.2 rating is the highest for a Saturday Divisional game since 2003, when Steelers/Titans drew a 20.3. CBS averaged 26.2 million viewers for the game, making it the most viewed program of the season to that point.
The other game to draw a 20+ rating was Colts/Chargers, which drew a 21.2 on Sunday, up slightly from Seahawks/Bears in the same timeslot in ’07.
The lone game to finish with an overnight under 20 was Packers/Seahawks. Airing in the late afternoon on Saturday, the Packers’ victory over Seattle drew an 18.5 overnight, up 5% from Colts/Ravens in ’07.
Divisional Round overnights.
18.5: Seahawks/Packers (1/12/08, 4:30 PM FOX); up 5% from ’07.
20.2: Jaguars/Patriots (1/12/08, 8 PM CBS); up 17% from ’07.
21.2: Chargers/Colts (1/13/08, 1 PM CBS); up 1% from ’07.
25.8: Giants/Cowboys (1/13/08, 4:30 PM FOX); up 17% from ’07.
