NFL PLayoff TV Ratings Best in Decades

by srr50 on Jan 26, 2010 12:11 PM CST in Texas Longhorns and Other Football

Once again Brett Favre turned out to be Solid Gold for the TV networks, as the NFC Championship game produced the most-watched program in the history of the FOX network.

The overnight ratings for the New Orleans Saints 31-28 overtime win over Favre and the Vikings produced a 30.6 rating with 57.9 million viewers. It is the second-most viewed Conference Championship game in NFL history, behind only the 1982 Dallas/San Francisco game which featured The Catch. That contest had 68.7 million viewers.

The NFC Championship Game drew almost twice as many viewers as the Texas-Alabama BCS Championship contest.

Excluding Super Bowls, this game is the most-viewed television program on any network since the series finale of Seinfeld pulled in over 76 million viewers.

The AFC Championship game, shown in the early afternoon timeslot, was also a ratings winner.

The Colts 30-17 win over the Jets had 46.9 million viewers for CBS -- the most for an AFC title game since 1984.

Excluding the Super Bowl, the Colts/Jets game ranks as the most-viewed NFL telecast on CBS since the network reacquired rights to the league in 1998. The last AFC game to have a larger audience was the 1984 Patriots/Dolphins contest, which drew 47.5 million viewers.

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After a four hour delay at Logan, I had to board a flight right when the Saints game went to OT and the plane took off with at least 30 people following the game on their cell phones, fiery crash bedamned!

What is the highest rated Super Bowl to date?

by Vasherized on Jan 26, 2010 12:23 PM CST reply actions

Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Mark Sanchez-they are artists who paint the field as they see it. I was skiing in Tremblant and I will be doing the same on SB Sunday. May the best team win.

by Kingfish on Jan 26, 2010 1:39 PM CST reply actions

The highest-rated Super Bowl was the 1982 San Francisco-Cincinnati game. It had a 49 rating (49% of all TV’s in the country were tuned in).

The most-watched Super Bowl was the Giants-Patriots game where over 98 million watched. That is the second-most watched TV program of all time. The final episode of MASH is #1 with over 106 million viewers.

by srr50 on Jan 26, 2010 1:42 PM CST reply actions