The wild-card games played on Saturday and Sunday weren’t very compelling. Which makes the viewership for the four contests look pretty good.
Via SportsBusiness Daily, the games drew 30.3 million average viewers per game. It’s down from the 32.6 million average viewers from the wild-card round in early 2016, but it reflects a small uptick in the 29.9 million who watched the wild-card games in 2015.
The 2016 games featured a 30-0 blowout of the Texans by the Chiefs and a lackluster 35-18 Green Bay win over Washington. It also had two very good games on broadcast TV: A compelling 18-16 win by the Steelers over the Bengals in prime time and a 10-9 Seattle win during a bitterly cold day in Minnesota.
This year’s quartet of wild-card games included a lackluster win by the Texans over the Raiders, a smothering by the Seahawks of the Lions, a drubbing of the Dolphins by the Steelers, and a 38-13 win by the Packers over the Giants.
