A weekend of multiple NFL ratings milestones began with the largest audience ever for the early Saturday Wild Card window.
NBC earned a 16.8 final rating and 28.4 million viewers for the Seahawks’ upset victory over the Saints Saturday afternoon, up 11% in ratings and 14% in viewership from last year (NYJ/CIN: 15.2, 25.048 mil), and up 28% and 35%, respectively, from 2009 (ATL/ARI: 13.1, 20.953 mil).
Saints/Seahawks ranks as the highest rated early Saturday Wild Card game since the 1998-99 season (BUF/MIA: 18.1, ABC), and the most-viewed ever.
For some perspective, the early Saturday Wild Card window failed to draw even a 15.0 rating in ten of the previous eleven seasons, with last year being the lone exception (15.2).
The 16.8 rating for Saints/Seahawks was the lowest of Wild Card weekend (four telecasts). Just three years ago, the highest rating of the Wild Card round was a 16.7 (TEN/SD, CBS).
(NBC press release from TV By The Numbers)
