Ratings for NFL Wildcard Weekend Down from Prior Years

According to a report by Sports Media Watch, ratings for the majority of NFL wild card games plummeted compared to previous years.

The most disappointing outcome occurred during the matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears who own two of the largest media markets.

Despite leading the league with 16.4 ratings and 30+ million viewers, the matchup was down 15 percent in ratings and roughly 5 million in viewers from last years window matchup between the Seahawks and Eagles.

The NFL saw its audience decline for the past weekend’s first round of postseason games despite TV networks trying to extend their broadcasts to new audiences https://t.co/V983pCUsTz

— Bloomberg (@business) January 12, 2021

The worst performing matchup was between the Indianapolis Colts and Buffalo Bills which received an 11.8 in ratings and just over 20 million viewers. This is the worst performing wild card matchup since the Colts and Jets in 2003.

NFL Wild Card ratings not-so-super. All four windows that can be compared to last year declined, and the weekend included the lowest rated Wild Card game since at least '98 (Bucs-WFT) and the least-watched since 2003 (Colts-Bills).https://t.co/an9Z6geABM

— Sports Media Watch (@paulsen_smw) January 12, 2021

Fox had the best performance during wild card weekend with 23.96 million viewers, which is still down 9 percent from last year.

---

Follow The Patriots Gazette On Social Media:

---