The Packers’ blowout of the Vikings was not very TV friendly, but still managed strong numbers on NBC.
Saturday’s Vikings/Packers NFC Wild Card game drew a 17.3 final rating and 30.3 million viewers on NBC, down 5% in ratings and viewership from Lions/Saints last year (18.2, 31.8M), and down 8% and 9%, respectively, from Jets/Colts in 2011 (18.7, 33.4M).
The game ranks as the lowest rated and least viewed Wild Card game in the late Saturday window since Colts/Chargers in 2009 (16.1, 27.8M).
With that said, the game also ranks as the fourth-most watched late Saturday Wild Card game since the current schedule began in 2002, and the seventh-most watched NFL telecast on NBC of any kind since the network resumed airing games in the 2006-07 season.
In a testament to the popularity of the NFL, the Packers’ uncompetitive win over the Vikings in a first round playoff game — on the lowest rated night of the week, no less — earned nearly four million more viewers than Alabama’s blowout win over Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game two nights later (26.4M, ESPN).
Among adults 18-49, Saturday’s game drew a 10.5 rating — down 7% from last year.
(Saturday’s numbers from Media Life Magazine)
