Chiefs-Texans Wild Card Game Draws 25,171,000 Viewers
Third Most-Watched Saturday Afternoon NFL Wild Card Game among Total Viewers in 17 Years
The Saturday afternoon NFL Wild Card game on ESPN and ABC – a Kansas City Chiefs’ 30-0 victory over the Houston Texans – averaged a 14.7 household US rating and 25,171,000 viewers (P2+), according to Nielsen fast nationals. The rating peaked among households from 5:30-6 p.m. ET with a 16.0 rating and among viewers from 6:30-7 p.m. with 27,841,000. Chiefs-Texans is the third most-watched Saturday afternoon NFL Wild Card game among total viewers in 17 years.
The combined rating on both ESPN and ABC represents increases of 15 percent in household US rating and 13 percent in viewership, respectively, versus a year ago when ESPN televised the first NFL Playoff game in its 35-year history. The 2015 Cardinals-Panthers Wild Card game aired on ESPN and local over-the-air stations, averaging a 12.8 household US rating and 22,199,000 viewers (P2+). Saturday’s Wild Card was the first NFL game on ABC in 10 years – since Super Bowl XL in February 2006.
In Kansas City, the game delivered a combined 52.1 rating in the market. In Houston, the game delivered a combined 32.6 rating. The remaining top 10 metered markets included: Denver (24.0), Buffalo (22.6), Norfolk (22.0), Milwaukee (20.3), Cincinnati (20.1), Richmond-Petersburg (19.2), New Orleans and Albuquerque-Santa Fe (19.1), Indianapolis (18.5) and Philadelphia (18.4).
ESPN’s 17 Monday Night Football telecasts in 2015 averaged an 8.1 US household rating and 12,898,000 viewers. Release.
ESPN Deportes also televised the Wild Card game in Spanish. The Hispanic Household ratings and viewership numbers will be available later this week.
NOTE: ESPN and ABC are reporting audience data for the Wild Card game the way it was sold to advertisers, as a gross rating across both networks.
ESPN Digital
Chiefs-Texans on WatchESPN attracted an additional 138,000 average minute impressions to the TV audience. It also had 381,000 unique viewers watching 28,000,000 live minutes.
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