Chiefs-Bills Sets Record As Most-Watched NFL Divisional Playoff Game Ever
CBS set an astounding record with its presentation of Sunday’s Chiefs-Bills matchup.
The nail-biter that ended with a Chiefs victory delivered 50.4M viewers, marking the most-watched NFL Divisional Playoff game ever. The previous record holder was 48.5M viewers for Cowboys-Packers in January 2017. It’s also the first NFL Divisional Playoff game to surpass 50M viewers.
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That’s up 10% from last year’s comparable game, which saw 45M tune in for the Cowboys-49ers.
Sunday’s game peaked with more than 56M viewers. According to Paramount Global, the game also delivered Paramount+ its most-streamed live event ever.
The Chiefs-Bills was by far the most-watched game of the weekend, but the audiences for each were still noteworthy, especially Saturday’s Texans-Ravens game.
Although it was the least-watched of the four playoffs, the matchup managed ESPN’s most-watched NFL game ever with nearly 32M viewers across ESPN and ABC.
Second place went to the late Saturday windows Packers-49ers game, which tallied 37.5M viewers for Fox. NBC’s showing of the Buccaneers-Lions came in closed behind with 37.2M.
The NFL saw record-high audiences all throughout the regular season, so it stands the reason the postseason would be no different. Across all games, the NFL’s regular season viewership was the best its been since 2015, boding well for the AFC and NFC Championships, as well as the Super Bowl LVIII.
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