The Colts’ huge comeback got the NFL playoffs off to a thrilling and highly-rated start last weekend.
The Chiefs/Colts AFC Wild Card game earned a 16.0 final rating and 27.6 million viewers on NBC Saturday afternoon, up 11% in ratings and 17% in viewership from Bengals/Texans last year (14.4, 23.6M), and up 19% and 26%, respectively, from Bengals/Texans in 2011 (13.5, 21.9M).
Chiefs/Colts earned the second-largest audience ever for the early Saturday Wild Card game (dates back to 1990), trailing only Saints/Seahawks in 2011 (28.3M). The last time the teams met in the Wild Card round — 2007 — the game drew a 12.6 rating and 19.7 million viewers in the same 4:30 PM Saturday timeslot.
Locally, Saturday’s game earned a 48.0 rating in Kansas City and a 41.3 in Indianapolis. Denver was the top neutral market (28.0), and Richmond, VA, was the top non-NFL market (21.6).
