Four of the six NFL Wild Card games this year sustained audience erosion versus last season's corresponding windows, despite offering more competitive contests.
The downturn contrasted with year-over-year viewership gains for the full slate of 2022 Wild Card matchups, only two of which were considered competitive.
FOX (US)'s Jan. 15 presentation of the New York Giants' upset of Minnesota was the most-watched of the 2023 Wild Card weekend. The network averaged 33.2 million viewers in the late Sunday window. However, the Giants-Vikings contest, which did not kick off until nearly 5 p.m., fell 20% from the 41.5 million CBS (US) and Paramount Global's Nickelodeon/Nick At Nite (US) drew for Dallas-San Francisco in the equivalent Wild Card window last season.
FOX also averaged 27.5 million watchers for the Wild Card opener in the late afternoon on Jan. 14, dipping slightly from the 27.7 million NBC (US) scored with Cincinnati-Las Vegas in the first Saturday playoff contest last season.
Fox noted its Wild Card coverage marked the first time shows averaged 20 million watchers on successive nights in prime time since NBC's similarly positioned 2021 Wild Card coverage.
Walt Disney Co. this year scored its most-watched NFL playoff game since Super Bowl XL in 2006. ESPN (US), ABC (US), ESPN2 (US), ESPN Deportes (US) and streaming service ESPN+ combined to average 31.2 million viewers for Dallas' win over Tampa Bay on Jan. 16, according to final data from Nielsen Holdings PLC. That represented a 34% gain from the Disney networks' 23.2 million average for Los Angeles Rams-Arizona in the inaugural Monday Night Wild Card game in 2022.
The Dallas-Tampa Bay game audience might have been higher if the Buccaneers had not trailed 18-0 at halftime, en route to a 31-14 defeat.
CBS also was in positive audience territory with 30.6 million watchers for Buffalo-Miami in the early Sunday window on Jan. 15. The delivery was above the 30.4 million FOX notched with Tampa Bay-Philadelphia in that slot last season. It stands as the most-watched Sunday American Football Conference Wild Card game in nine years.
Jacksonville's rally from a 27-point deficit over the Los Angeles Chargers scored an average audience of 21.8 million viewers on NBC, NBCUniversal Media LLC's streaming service Peacock, and NFL digital properties Jan. 14, versus the 26.4 million CBS tallied for Buffalo-New England in last season's Saturday night matchup. Sports Media Watch reported that Jaguars-Chargers ranks as the NFL's smallest audience for a playoff game in prime time.
NBC registered an average audience of 28.6 million across platforms for Cincinnati's win over Cleveland on Jan. 15, just behind the 28.9 million for Kansas City-Pittsburgh in the 2022 Wild Card Sunday night game.
