NFL Wild Card ratings declined across the board in the metered markets.
Sunday’s Panthers-Saints NFC Wild Card Game earned a 20.4 overnight rating on FOX, down 15% from Giants-Packers last year (24.0), down 14% from Green Bay-Washington in 2016 (23.6), and the lowest overnight for the late Sunday Wild Card game since 2009 (Eagles-Vikings: 19.9).
Overnights in the late Sunday window have now declined in three of the past four years.
New Orleans’ win was also the lowest rated Wild Card game on FOX since 2012, the last time it aired an early afternoon game (Falcons-Giants: 18.9).
Despite the lows, the 20.4 is the highest for any sporting event since last year’s Super Bowl. Not counting the Olympics, it exceeds all-but-one non-NFL sporting event since 2006. The lone exception? Game 7 of the 2016 World Series (25.2).
Earlier in the day, Bills-Jaguars scored a 17.5 overnight on CBS — down 9% from last year (Dolphins-Steelers: 19.2) and down 22% from 2016 on NBC (Seahawks-Vikings: 22.5). The 17.5 is the lowest for the early Sunday Wild Card game since 2009 (Ravens-Dolphins: 17.0).
The previous day, Falcons-Rams had a 14.9 overnight on NBC (-10%), the lowest ever for a Saturday night Wild Card game (dates back to 2002). Titans-Chiefs had a 14.7 on ESPN and ABC (-11%), with fast-nationals for that game available here.
The last time Wild Card weekend overnights declined across the board was just three years ago — 2015.
[Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily 1.8]
