Exciting, high-stake NFL games sell.
Saturday’s overtime thriller between the Bills and Broncos attracted an average audience of 39.597 million viewers on Saturday, with a stunning peak viewership of 51.284 million in overtime.
Via CBS, it was the most-watched Saturday telecast on any network since the 1994 Winter Olympics, and the most-watched Saturday afternoon telecast on record.
It’s a 17.1-percent jump over last year’s division-round opener between the Texans and Chiefs, which had an audience of 33.8 million on ESPN and ABC.
The bad news for the NFL, if any, is that so many people were watching during the key moments when the league failed to engage in a full-blown replay review over a controversial interception ruling. And it’s all the more reason for the league to figure out the catch rule, apply a consistent standard, and take the time in key moments to ensure that season-deciding calls are correct.
