Despite airing in the early window, the AFC Championship was a spectacular draw for CBS.
Sunday’s Patriots/Broncos AFC Championship Game earned a 29.3 rating and 53.3 million viewers, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 7% in ratings and viewership from Packers/Seahawks on FOX last year (27.4, 49.8M) and up 4% in both measures from the same Patriots/Broncos matchup in 2014 (28.1, 51.3M).
Compared to last year’s Colts/Patriots AFC title game, which aired in the late window, ratings increased 30% and viewership 27% from a 22.5 and 42.1 million.
The Broncos’ win, which peaked with 62.9 million viewers from 6-6:30 PM ET, ranks as the highest rated AFC Championship since Patriots/Dolphins on NBC in 1986 (32.4) and the second-most watched on record — behind only Jets/Steelers in 2011 (54.9M).
It also delivered the largest audience on record for the NFL’s early conference championship window (dates back to 1978), topping the previous high of 51.8 million for Packers/Bears on FOX in 2011. Regardless of timeslot, it was the sixth-most watched conference championship game since 1995.
Patriots/Broncos finished comfortably ahead of the Cardinals/Panthers NFC Championship on FOX later in the night (24.1, 45.7M), marking the second straight year that the early conference championship game topped the late window.
(Sun. numbers from CBS Sports)
