FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 19th, 2022
NBC’S STEELERS-CHIEFS SUNDAY NFL WILD CARD GAME IS MOST-WATCHED PRIMETIME SHOW SINCE SUPER BOWL LV
Raiders-Bengals Game on NBC, Peacock & Universo Delivers Largest Saturday Late Afternoon Wild Card Audience since 1999
NBC Sports’ NFL Super Wild Card Weekend Viewership UP 23% from Last Year
Peacock, NBC Sports Digital & NFL Digital Properties Combine to Register Two Largest Audiences Ever for NBC NFL Playoff Games, Excluding Super Bowls
STAMFORD, Conn. – Jan. 19, 2022 – NBC Sports’ presentation of two NFL Super Wild Card Weekend games posted viewership milestones, delivered increases over the games in last year’s corresponding time slots, and set NBC Sports Digital NFL streaming records.
Across both games, NBC Sports’ Total Audience Delivery average of 29.7 million viewers is up 23% from its Super Wild Card Weekend coverage last year (24.1 million TAD).
Sunday Night (Pittsburgh-Kansas City)
Despite Kansas City’s 35-7 lead early in the third quarter, Sunday night’s Steelers-Chiefs game averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 30.5 million viewers across NBC, Telemundo, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital and NFL Digital platforms – up 17% from last year’s Sunday night Wild Card game on the same platforms (26.1 million for Browns-Steelers), according to official data released today by Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
The NBC audience of 28.9 million viewers ranks as television’s most-watched primetime show since Super Bowl LV in February 2021. Viewership on NBC peaked at 33.8 million viewers at the end of the first half from 9:30-9:45 p.m. ET. Sunday night’s game (8:16-11:11 p.m. ET), highlighted by five Patrick Mahomes touchdown passes in Kansas City’s 42-21 win, registered a national TV household rating of 14.7/33 – up 10% from last year (13.4/28).
Steelers-Chiefs delivered an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 1.25 million viewers across Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms, NFL Digital platforms, Steelers and Chiefs mobile properties, and Yahoo Sports mobile properties – ranking as the most streamed NBC NFL playoff game ever, excluding Super Bowls. The prior NBC Sports’ NFL playoff record was set just one day earlier as Saturday’s Raiders-Bengals game delivered an AMA of 1.21 million viewers.
Top Metered Markets for Steelers-Chiefs:
| 1. | Kansas City | 50.5/80 |
| 2. | Pittsburgh | 41.0/67 |
| 3. | Buffalo | 27.0/48 |
| 4. | New Orleans | 23.1/40 |
| 5. | Cincinnati | 22.0/44 |
| 6. | Nashville | 20.7/39 |
| 7. | Milwaukee | 19.8/39 |
| 8. | Albuquerque | 19.1/36 |
| 9. | Cleveland | 18.9/40 |
| 10. | Columbus | 18.8/38 |
Saturday Afternoon (Las Vegas-Cincinnati)
Cincinnati’s 23-16 victory over Las Vegas, headlined by Bengals QB Joe Burrow’s 244 passing yards and two touchdowns in his first career playoff start, averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 29.0 million viewers — ranking as the most-watched Saturday afternoon Wild Card game since 1999 (30.7 million for Arizona-Dallas on ABC) and up 30% from NBC Sports’ Saturday night Wild Card game in January 2021 (22.3 million for Tampa Bay-Washington).
Raiders-Bengals averaged 27.7 million viewers on NBC, an increase of 13% from last year’s LA. Rams-Seattle matchup in the same time window (24.5 million viewers on FOX). Saturday’s game (4:36-7:53 p.m. ET) registered a national TV household rating of 14.2/36 – up 23% from last year’s NBC Saturday Wild Card (11.5/25 for Bucs-WFT) and up 12% from Rams-Seattle in the same time slot (12.7/30).
Top Metered Markets for Raiders-Bengals:
| 1. | Cincinnati | 42.2/74 |
| 2. | Dayton | 28.6/54 |
| 3. | New Orleans | 26.5/50 |
| 4. | Columbus | 23.0/52 |
| 5. | Buffalo | 22.8/43 |
| 6. | Kansas City | 21.9/46 |
| 7. | Las Vegas | 21.4/54 |
| 8. | Providence | 19.5/41 |
| 9. | Pittsburgh | 18.9/41 |
| T10. | Nashville | 18.5/38 |
| T10. | Milwaukee | 18.5/44 |
This Sunday, Jan. 23 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC, Peacock and Telemundo, five-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald and the NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams in an NFC Divisional Playoff Game. Coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET with a special edition of Football Night in America on NBC and Peacock.
–NBC SPORTS–
