NBC scored the largest audience on record for the NFL’s early Sunday Wild Card Game.
Sunday’s Seahawks/Vikings NFL Wild Card Game drew a 21.0 rating and 35.3 million viewers on NBC, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 24% in ratings and 25% in viewership from Bengals/Colts last year (17.0, 28.3M) and up 11% and 14%, respectively, from Chargers/Bengals in 2014 (18.9, 30.9M). Both of those games aired on CBS.
Compared to NBC’s Wild Card Game last year, Ravens/Steelers on a Saturday night, ratings and viewership increased by a third and 26%, respectively, from a 15.8 and 27.9 million.
The Seahawks’ last-second win, which peaked with 43.9 million viewers from 3:45-4 PM ET, ranks as the most-watched early Sunday Wild Card Game on record (dates back to 1988) and the highest rated since Patriots/Browns on NBC in 1995 (22.0).
Regardless of window, it had the seventh-highest rating and viewership for any Wild Card Game since 1999.
For NBC in particular, Sunday’s game trails only Super Bowl 43, 46 and 49 as the network’s highest rated and most-watched NFL telecast since resuming coverage in 2006. The previous marks were a 19.6 for last year’s Ravens/Patriots Divisional Round game and 34.4 million for a Saints/Eagles Wild Card Game in 2014.
NBC’s Most-Watched NFL Games Since Reacquiring Rights
Excluding Super Bowl
| # | Game | Rtg. | Vwrs. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seahawks/Vikings Wild Card Round |
21.0 | 35.30M |
| 2 | Saints/Eagles Wild Card Round |
19.1 | 34.36M |
| 3 | Ravens/Patriots Divisional Round |
19.6 | 34.05M |
| 4 | Jets/Colts Wild Card Round |
18.7 | 33.35M |
| 5 | Eagles/Cowboys Wild Card Round |
18.0 | 32.12M |
| 6 | Lions/Saints Wild Card Round |
18.2 | 31.78M |
| 7 | Cowboys/Wash. Reg. Season Week 17 |
17.0 | 30.28M |
| 8 | Vikings/Packers Wild Card Round |
17.3 | 30.28M |
| 9 | Saints/Seahawks Wild Card Round |
16.8 | 28.30M |
| 10 | Ravens/Steelers Wild Card Round |
15.8 | 27.94M |
(Sun. numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box)
