With San Francisco putting the game away early, a made-for-TV NFC Championship sank in the ratings.
Sunday’s Packers-49ers NFC Championship Game averaged a 22.0 rating and 42.79 million viewers on FOX, down 20% in ratings and 21% in viewership from the same window on CBS last year (Patriots-Chiefs: 27.5, 53.90M), but up 1% in both measures from 2018 on FOX (Vikings-Eagles: 21.7, 42.30M).
Compared to last year’s Rams-Saints NFC Championship, which aired in an earlier window, ratings fell 10% (from 24.5) and viewership 3% (from 44.07M). Across all Fox Sports platforms, the audience of 43.58 million fell 3% from Rams-Saints (45.04M).
San Francisco’s comfortable win, which peaked with 46.13 million viewers, tops only Vikings-Eagles in ’18 as the least-watched NFC Championship in seven years (2013 49ers-Falcons: 42.00M).
Its 22.0 rating is tied as the second-lowest for either conference title game since 2009 (Eagles-Cardinals: 21.9), matching Ravens-Steelers that same year and ahead of only Vikings-Eagles.
Ratings and viewership trailed the previous playoff meeting between the Packers and 49ers, in the 2014 Wild Card round (25.8, 47.10M).
This year marks the first time since 2009 that neither conference title game averaged at least 44 million viewers, though it bears noting that any audience north of 40 million is massive in the current television environment. Other than the Olympics, no non-NFL sporting event has averaged as large an audience as either of this year’s title games since 1991.
Milwaukee led all markets Sunday with a 48.2 rating and 70 share, followed by the Bay Area at a 42.6/76. Sacramento ranked third (39.8/67) and Minneapolis fourth (35.1/59), with Denver rounding out the top five (31.7/54).
Sunday’s game drew a 12.2 rating in adults 18-49, down 25% from Patriots-Chiefs last year (16.3) and down 9% from Vikings-Eagles in ’18 (13.4). It also had a 9.2 in adults 18-34, down 28% from last year (12.8) and down 13% from ’18 (10.6).
[Nielsen estimates from Fox Sports, ShowBuzz Daily 1.22, Anthony Crupi/Twitter 1.20]
