Philadelphia’s 16-15 Win over Chicago Peaks at More Than 45 Million Viewers for Exciting Finish on NBC
Viewership Up 15% From Last Year’s Sunday 4:30 p.m. NFL Wild Card Game on Fox
Eagles-Bears Ranks as NBC’s Most-Watched NFL Wild Card Game In At Least 30 Years
NBC Sports Digital Delivers Its Largest NFL Wild Card Audience Ever
Andrew Luck & Colts Face Patrick Mahomes & Chiefs This Saturday in AFC Divisional Playoff on NBC; Coverage Begins at 3 p.m. ET with Special 90-Minute Edition of Football Night in America
STAMFORD, Conn. – January 7, 2019 – NBC Sports’ presentation of the Philadelphia Eagles’ down-to-the-wire 16-15 victory over the Chicago Bears in Sunday’s NFC Wild Card game is television’s most-watched show since Super Bowl LII on NBC (Feb. 4, 2018), with a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 36.4 million viewers across television and digital, according to fast national live plus same day data from Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
The game averaged 35.89 million TV-only viewers, ranking as NBC’s most-watched NFL Wild Card on record (People Meter history dates to 1988), topping the prior high set by the Seattle Seahawks-Houston Oilers AFC Wild Card game which went to overtime on Jan. 3, 1988 (35.86 million). NBC’s Wild Card viewership was up 15% from the game in the same time slot last year (31.1 million, Panthers-Saints on Fox).
TV-only viewership for Eagles-Bears, which featured five lead changes, peaked at 45.1 million viewers for the exciting conclusion from 7:45-7:54 p.m. ET. Sunday’s game (4:41 p.m.-7:54 p.m. ET) registered a national TV household rating of 19.7/38.
NBC Sports Digital delivered its best-ever NFL Wild Card viewership for Sunday’s game as fans consumed 105.2 million live streaming minutes with an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 533,000 viewers across NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, and NFL Digital platforms.
TOP METERED MARKETS FOR EAGLES-BEARS:
| 1. | Philadelphia | 44.6/66 |
| 2. | Chicago | 43.1/68 |
| 3. | New Orleans | 34.5/51 |
| 4. | Milwaukee | 32.0/49 |
| 5. | Norfolk | 31.5/48 |
| 6. | Richmond | 31.0/47 |
| 7. | Kansas City | 29.1/45 |
| 8. | Buffalo | 27.9/41 |
| 9. | Dallas | 26.4/49 |
| 10. | Minneapolis | 26.1/47 |
NFL touchdown pass leader Patrick Mahomes and the AFC #1 seed Kansas City Chiefs (12-4) host the opening game of the NFL Divisional Playoffs against Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts (11-6), who have won 10 of their last 11 games, this Saturday, Jan. 12 on NBC. Coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET, with a special 90-minute playoff edition of Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.
--SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL--
