CBS scored a very slight bump in the ratings for its AFC Wild Card game.
Sunday’s Chargers-Ravens AFC Wild Card game had a 15.4 rating and 25.4 million viewers on CBS, up 2% in ratings and a fraction of a percent in viewership from last year (Bills-Jaguars: 15.2, 25.3M), but down 7% and 12% respectively from 2016 (Dolphins-Steelers: 17.5, 29.9M).
On a weekend in which all four NFL Wild Card games increased over last year — the first such occurrence since 2014 — the Chargers’ win posted the smallest gains.
Ratings and viewership topped only last year as the lowest for the early Sunday Wild Card window since 2009 (Ravens-Dolphins: 15.0, 23.9M).
Notably, Sunday’s game had a 3% decline in adults 18-49 (7.1 to 6.9), the only game of the weekend to post a drop in the demo. Eagles-Bears (10.4) was up 13%, Seahawks-Cowboys (8.9) was up 27% and Colts-Texans (6.6) was up 6%.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Chargers-Ravens had a 30.7 rating in San Diego, former home of the Chargers. While down from the team’s final Wild Card game in San Diego five years ago (38.8), the rating was well above the 18.0 the game drew in Los Angeles.
Keep in mind that due to the size of the Los Angeles market, the 18.0 in L.A. equals a much larger number of television homes (950K) than does the 30.7 in San Diego (303K).
The full list of Wild Card weekend ratings is available here.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 1.8, San Diego Union-Tribune 1.8]
