The numbers were middling by recent standards, but go back further and Sunday’s Dolphins/Steelers game did pretty well for CBS.
Sunday’s Dolphins/Steelers AFC Wild Card game had a 17.5 final rating and 29.9 million viewers on CBS, down 17% in ratings and 15% in viewership from Seahawks/Vikings on NBC last year (21.0, 35.3M) but up 3% and 6% respectively from Bengals/Colts in 2015 (17.0, 28.3M). Compared to last year’s Wild Card game on CBS, Steelers/Bengals on a Saturday night, ratings were flat but viewership sank 4% from 31.2 million.
The 17.5 rating is the fourth-best for the early Sunday Wild Card window since 2004, behind Seahawks/Vikings last year, Chargers/Bengals in 2014 (18.9) and Ravens/Colts in 2013 (18.1).
The 17.5 is also tied as the fourth-best for a Wild Card game on CBS since 2006 — behind Chargers/Bengals in ’14, Ravens/Colts in ’13 and Steelers/Broncos in 2012 (24.0). Keep in mind that just once in the past eight seasons has CBS aired a Wild Card game in the late Sunday window, the highest rated of any given week.
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 1/10)
