Given the huge TV drawing power of the Dallas Cowboys, Fox Sports executives can only be dreaming about what might have been for the upcoming NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl 57.
During the NFL Divisional Playoffs, the Cowboys demonstrated once again why they are indeed America’s Team when it comes to TV ratings:
- Fox drew 45.7 million viewers for its telecast of the Cowboys’ 19-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. It was the most-watched telecast of any kind on any network since NBC Sports’ telecast of Super Bowl 56.
- Cowboys-49ers was the most-watched game of the NFL’s four-game Divisional weekend – and the second most-watched NFL Divisional game ever behind the 48.5 million for Cowboys-Green Bay Packers in 2017.
- The week before, the Cowboys generated Disney and ESPN’s most-watched playoff game ever (31.2 million viewers) by beating Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wild Card Weekend.
- On Thanksgiving Day, the Cowboys vs. New York Giants drew 42 million viewers, making it the most-watched regular season game in league history.
- Fox’s telecast of the Philadelphia Eagles’ blowout win over the Giants averaged 28.6 million viewers, making it the most-watched prime telecast on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, CBS Sports averaged a whopping 39.3 million viewers for its telecast of the Cincinnati Bengals’ road win over the Buffalo Bills. It was the most-watched AFC Divisional Playoff game in the early TV window.
NBC grabbed a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 34.3 million viewers for its coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs-Jacksonville Jaguars.
The telecast across NBC TV, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital platforms was the most-watched Saturday afternoon Divisional game since 2013.
The game drew a 45.1 TV rating in the Kansas City market and 34.5 in the Jacksonville area.
From an NFL perspective, the league says the four Divisional Playoff games averaged 37.1 million viewers.
That’s down 3% from last year’s Divisional Playoffs. But the third-highest on record behind 2022 and 2015.
And an 11% increase over the five-year average of 33.5 million viewers between 2018 and 2022.
The weekend produced a total unduplicated audience of 126.3 million viewers for the NFL.
That’s also down 3% from last year – the highest Divisional round average on record.
