Though it drew over ten million fewer viewers than Packers/Eagles on FOX, Sunday’s Ravens/Chiefs AFC Wild Card game hit a five-year viewership high for CBS.
The Ravens’ win over the Chiefs earned a 17.1 rating and 28.467 million viewers on CBS Sunday afternoon, according to Nielsen fast-nationals, up 1% in ratings and 4% in viewership from last year (BAL/NE: 16.9, 27.413 mil), and up 14% and 15%, respectively, from 2009 (BAL/MIA: 15.0, 23.893 mil).
This marks the highest rated, most-viewed NFL Wild Card game on CBS since 2006 (18.9, 30.369 mil). The ’06 game aired in the late Sunday window.
Additionally, the 17.1 rating is the second-highest for the early Sunday Wild Card window since the 2004-05 season, behind only Jets/Patriots in ’07 (17.3).
The increase in the final numbers comes after a 3% decline in the overnights.
Ravens/Chiefs came approximately 11 million viewers short of Sunday’s Packers/Eagles game on FOX, which drew the largest audience ever for an NFL Wild Card (39.3 mil).
(CBS press release from TV By The Numbers)
