The most-watched game of Wild Card weekend was also the only one to decline.
Sunday’s Packers/Washington NFL Wild Card Game had a 21.8 rating and 38.8 million viewers on FOX, per Nielsen fast-nationals — down 8% in ratings and viewership from Lions/Cowboys last year (23.6, 42.3M), down 16% and 18%, respectively, from 49ers/Packers in 2014 (25.8, 47.1M), and the lowest rated, least-watched Wild Card game in the late Sunday window since Seahawks/Washington in 2013 (21.5, 38.1M).
Despite the decline, the Packers’ win earned the fourth-largest audience for a Wild Card Game on FOX (22 telecasts dating back to 1995) and the fifth-largest audience on record for any Wild Card game, regardless of conference.
The seven most-watched Wild Card games have aired in the late Sunday window, with six of those seven on FOX. Sunday produced two of the ten largest Wild Card audiences, with NBC’s Seahawks/Vikings game ranking eighth (35.3M).
Milwaukee was Sunday’s top market with a 55.1 rating, followed by Washington D.C. (38.6). A pair of Virginia markets, Richmond (36.4) and Norfolk (34.9), ranked second and third, with Denver fifth at 31.9.
(Sun. numbers from Fox Sports)
