NFL Saturday TV Ratings Fall Despite Record ESPN Viewership

While the Commanders’ upstart playoff run is undoubtedly the NFL feel-good story of the moment, the league’s television audiences continue to face an uphill climb compared to last season’s robust totals.

Washington’s upset 45-31 win over Detroit Saturday night posted an average audience of 33.6 million on Fox, down 10.4% from the comparable 49ers-Packers game in the same window a year ago. Last year’s contest was a Fox record total for a Saturday divisional playoff game, so any type of comparison was going to be difficult—even with the powerful ratings pull of the Lions. 

The decline in that game extended viewership attrition for the NFL during the regular season and wild-card playoff round.

The earlier Saturday divisional playoff game between the Texans and Chiefs on ESPN and simulcast on sister Disney network ABC, however, was a far better story. The game drew an average of 32.7 million according to preliminary data, up 1% from a comparable Ravens-Texans game a year ago, and represented ESPN’s most-watched NFL game ever, a history dating back to 1987. 

The game’s final figure—expected to surpass 33 million once all data is tabulated—also marks the best audience for a Saturday afternoon divisional playoff game across all networks since 2016 

Audience data from Sunday’s pair of divisional games has not yet been released, but is highly anticipated. That’s particularly true for the evening AFC contest on CBS between the Ravens and Bills, which is expected to post the best viewership of all four contests in this playoff round.