NFL Championship Games Top Most TV Shows
- by Wayne Friedman , January 19, 2015
Although down versus a year ago, the NFL Championships games on Sunday were again among the top three best-rated TV shows of the year. Fox’s NFC Championship game earned a healthy Nielsen 49.8 million viewers for Seattle Seahawks overtime win over the Green Bay Packers, down 11% from a year ago the NFC game when it drew 55.91 million viewers. The 2013 game earned 41.9 million; and the 2012 contest pulling in 57.6 million viewers.
The AFC Championship game pulled in substantially lower numbers than in 2014. Helping out the lower returns was a blowout win on Sunday by the New England Patriots over the Indianapolis Colts.
The game pulled in 42.1 million viewers, down 18% from last year’s game featuring the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos earning 51.3 million viewers. The 2013 contest pulled in 47.7 million viewers, while 2012 had 48.7 million viewers.
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Those games typically continue to be the second- and the third-best TV shows of the year — with the Super Bowl more than double each of those contests with 105 million viewers or more.
The Oscars, which will air later this month, typically comes in fourth place. Over the last several years, it has hovered in the 40 million viewer range. Last year it hit 43.7 million, earning 40.4 million in 2013 and 39.3 million in 2012.
Actually, the Super Bowl Pre-Kick and Post Game shows are typically the second and third most watched programs of the year, pulling in over 60 million viewers each.