The Saints’ march to the Super Bowl attracted the largest non-Super Bowl TV audience in nearly 12 years.
Sunday’s Vikings/Saints NFC Championship Game drew a massive 30.6/45 fast-national rating and 57.9 million viewers on FOX, up 39% in ratings and 43% in viewers from Ravens/Steelers on CBS last year (22.0/34, 40.6 mil), and up 5% and 7%, respectively, from Giants/Packers on FOX in ’08 (29.0/43, 53.9 mil).
The game peaked with a 34.4/48 rating and 65.2 million viewers from 9:30-10 PM.
Vikings/Saints stands as the second-most viewed Conference Championship game in NFL history, behind only the 1982 Cowboys/49ers NFC title game on CBS (68.7 mil).
Additionally, the 30.6/45 rating is the highest for a Conference Championship game since Packers/Cowboys in ’96 (33.3/58).
To put the numbers in perspective, no World Series game has drawn a rating of 30.6 or higher since Braves/Twins Game 7 in ’91 (32.2/49), and no NBA Finals game has ever drawn a rating that high.
Vikings/Saints also drew a higher rating than every single primetime Olympics telecast — Summer or Winter — since ’94. That includes the ’96 Atlanta and ’02 Salt Lake City games.
Excluding the Super Bowl, the game ranks as the most-viewed television program on any network since the series finale of Seinfeld in ’98 (76.3 mil) — topping the previous 12-year high of 53.9 million for Giants/Packers in ’08 — and the most-viewed program in the history of the FOX network.
Overall, FOX averaged a 22.4/38 rating and 40.2 million viewers for its coverage of the NFL playoffs — the network’s highest rated postseason since ’97 and most-viewed ever.
Ratings/viewership for late Conference Championship game since ’99
| Year | Date | Conf. | Game | Net | Rating | Viewers (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2010
|
Sun., 1/24/10 | NFC | Vikings/Saints | FOX |
30.6/45
|
57,900
|
| 2009 | Sun., 1/18/09 | AFC | Ravens/Steelers | CBS |
22.0/34
|
40,645
|
| 2008 | Sun., 1/20/08 | NFC | Giants/Packers | FOX |
29.0/43
|
53,937
|
| 2007 | Sun., 1/21/07 | AFC | Patriots/Colts | CBS |
26.4/39
|
46,695
|
| 2006 | Sun., 1/22/06 | NFC | Panthers/Seahawks | FOX |
20.8/31
|
35,233
|
| 2005 | Sun., 1/23/05 | AFC | Patriots/Steelers | CBS |
25.8/38
|
44,334
|
| 2004 | Sun., 1/18/04 | NFC | Panthers/Eagles | FOX |
23.2/35
|
40,444
|
| 2003 | Sun., 1/19/03 | AFC | Titans/Raiders | CBS |
24.6/38
|
41,456
|
| 2002 | Sun., 1/27/02 | NFC | Eagles/Rams | FOX |
22.7/40
|
37,429
|
| 2001 | Sun., 1/14/01 | AFC | Ravens/Raiders | CBS |
22.6/42
|
—
|
| 2000 | Sun., 1/23/00 | NFC | Buccaneers/Rams | FOX |
26.9/47
|
—
|
| 1999 | Sun., 1/17/99 | AFC | Broncos/Jets | CBS |
26.6/48
|
—
|
