The Lions and Seahawks were not quite ready for primetime Saturday night.
Saturday’s Lions/Seahawks NFC Wild Card game had a 14.8 final rating and 26.9 million viewers on NBC, down 15% in ratings and 14% in viewership from Steelers/Bengals on CBS last year (17.5, 31.2M) and down 6% and 4% respectively from Ravens/Steelers on NBC in 2015 (15.8, 27.9M).
Compared to last year’s Seahawks/Vikings Wild Card game on NBC, which aired in the early Sunday window, ratings fell 30% from a 21.0 and viewership 24% from 35.4 million.
The Seahawks’ win, which peaked with 28.4 million viewers in the fast-nationals, ranks as the lowest rated Saturday night Wild Card game since Jaguars/Patriots on ABC in 2006 (13.9) and the least-watched since Jaguars/Steelers on NBC in 2008 (25.7M). Of the 16 total Saturday night Wild Card games (dating back to 2002), it ranks 14th in ratings and 9th in viewership.
In addition, it was the lowest rated and least-watched NFL playoff game on NBC in four years — since a Bengals/Texans Wild Card game in 2013 (14.4, 23.6M).
Figures do not include streaming viewership on NBC and NFL digital platforms. With those numbers added to the mix, Saturday’s game had 27.1 million — still the smallest audience for the Saturday night Wild Card window since 2008.
Saturday’s game had an 8.4 rating in adults 18-49, down 17% from last year on CBS (10.1) and down 5% from 2014 on NBC (8.8).
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 1/10, with additional info from NBC Sports)
