Viewership was the lowest in six years for the AFC Championship Game.
The Colts/Patriots AFC Championship Game drew a 22.5 final rating and 42.1 million viewers on CBS Sunday afternoon, down 21% in ratings and 25% in viewership from 49ers/Seahawks on FOX last year (28.5, 55.9M) and down 12% and 10%, respectively, from Ravens/Patriots on CBS in 2012 (25.5, 47.1M).
Compared to last year’s Broncos/Patriots AFC Championship Game, which aired in the early window, ratings and viewership declined by 20% and 18%, respectively.
The Patriots’ easy win ranks as the lowest rated and second-least watched Conference Championship game since 2009, when Ravens/Patriots drew a 22.0 and 40.6 million on CBS and Eagles/Cardinals drew a 21.9 and 38.4 million on FOX. Only 49ers/Falcons two years ago had a smaller audience over that span (42.0M).
Overall, Patriots/Colts was the third-lowest rated Conference Championship game in the late window since the current scheduling format began in the 2003 playoffs (13 telecasts) — ahead of only Ravens/Patriots in 2009 and Panthers/Seahawks in 2006 (20.8). It was also the fifth-least watched, ahead of Ravens/Patriots, Panthers/Seahawks (35.2M), Panthers/Eagles in 2004 (40.4M) and Titans/Raiders in 2003 (41.5M).
The game actually earned a lower rating than the Colts/Broncos Divisional Round game the previous week (23.3), though it came out ahead in viewership (42.1M to 41.8M).
(Sun. numbers via Media Life Magazine)
