NFL Viewers Show Post-Season Gains; State Farm, Verizon, Geico, Progressive, TurboTax Big Ad Spenders

The NFL continues to see TV viewing success in its post-season games -- following its ratings bump in the regular season.

Looking at two weeks of post-season action -- eight games so far, including the wild card and divisional rounds -- the NFL is up 5% to an average Nielsen 32.0 million viewers.

The most recent divisional round -- four games played this past weekend -- was up 2% to 33.2 million viewers versus the 2019 divisional round average of 32.6 million viewers. It was the most-watched divisional-round game average in three years.

The NFL’s regular-season games in 2019 on five networks -- Fox, NBC, CBS, ESPN and NFL Network -- posted a similar steady 5% increase -- averaging a Nielsen 16.5 million per game.

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NFL game viewership is one of the few, if only gains, made by any TV genre -- scripted, unscripted, or other sports -- over the last few years.

Among the top paid advertising over the most recent weekend, TurboTax had 22 airings, 306.4 million impressions, and $14.0 million in national TV advertising spend, according to iSpot.tv.

This was followed by Progressive Insurance with 21 airings, 344.5 million impressions, $15.1 million in national TV spend; State Farm, 19 airings, 382.5 million impressions, $18.9 million; Verizon, 19 airings, 434.3 million impressions, $16.5 million; Pizza Hut, 16 airings, 199.7 million impressions, $5.2 million; Wendy’s, 15 airings, 118.9 million, $3.1 million; and Geico, 14 airings, 350.4 million impressions, and $17.9 million in national TV spend.

When it comes to advertising TV networks themselves, CBS pulled in the most impressions -- 923.8 million impressions from 35 promo airings. Fox had 46 promo airings and 473.4 million impressions; and NBC, 18 promos, 434.7 million impressions.  

The NFL Network has seen the more promo airings than any other network --- 110, totaling 38.9 million impressions. Fox Deportes had 19 promo airings and 35.0 million impressions.

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