NFL ratings rebound not a fluke
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The NFL heads into Championship Sunday with a spring in its step as ratings for the first two rounds of the playoffs suggest that the league’s season-long ratings rebound hasn’t been a fluke.
According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, the four Wild Card and four Divisional Round broadcasts averaged 30.4 million viewers and a 17.2 household rating, which works out to a 10 percent improvement compared to last year’s analogous games. Seven of the eight postseason showdowns put up higher numbers than their year-ago counterparts, with only CBS’s coverage of the Chargers-Patriots blowout failing to deliver a larger audience than the comparable game in 2018.
The biggest draw of the two early rounds came courtesy of Fox’s coverage of Sunday evening’s hotly contested Eagles-Saints matchup, which averaged 38.2 million viewers and a 20.9 rating, up 8 percent compared to last year’s Saints-Vikings window. Philadelphia’s hopes of defending its title evaporated with 2:01 left on the clock when a Nick Foles pass sailed through receiver Alshon Jeffery’s hands and was picked off on the Saints’ 19-yard-line.
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