Moved up to Saturday due to the Christmas holiday, the Week 16 NFL doubleheader was a mixed bag on FOX.
Regional NFL action featuring Packers/Vikings in 71% of markets had a 10.0 final rating and 18.4 million viewers on FOX Saturday afternoon, up 8% in ratings and 13% in viewership from coverage featuring Panthers/Falcons last year (9.3, 16.2M) and flat and up 12%, respectively, from coverage on CBS in 2014 (10.0, 16.4M). Those windows aired on Sunday afternoons.
FOX treated the telecast as it would the late national window, branding Packers/Vikings as “America’s Game of the Week” and assigning its top broadcast team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to call the action. That decision paid off, as it was the most-watched early doubleheader window of the season on any network and the second-highest rated — trailing only a CBS window that featured Ravens/Cowboys in most markets (10.2).
In the traditional NFL national window, coverage featuring Buccaneers/Saints in 66% of markets had an 8.1 and 15.4 million — down 48% in ratings and 44% in viewership from coverage featuring Packers/Cardinals last year (15.5, 27.8M) and down 47% and 40% respectively from coverage featuring Colts/Cowboys on CBS in ’14 (15.2, 25.9M). Not including Week 17, when both FOX and CBS air doubleheaders, the 8.1 is the lowest for the NFL national window in at least a decade.
The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday, thus pushing most of the NFL’s afternoon windows to Christmas Eve Saturday, was 2011. That year, FOX scored an 8.0 and 13.8 million for the first half of its doubleheader and a 12.9 and 22.9 million for the national window.
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 12/28)
