Cowboys-Bucs Projected to Be Disney’s Most-Watched Playoff

Based on early results, the NFL is poised to post record-setting television numbers for its 2023 Super Wild Card Weekend.

The Walt Disney Co. scored the most-wanted game of the weekend among the NFL’s TV partners: the Dallas Cowboys vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night. 

The matchup had it all. America’s Team is the No. 1 TV draw in the NFL. Monday might have been Tom Brady’s final NFL game. Despite a lopsided final score, the prime-time duel between quarterbacks Dak Prescott of the Cowboys and Brady’s Bucs delivered big-time.

• The Cowboys’ 31-14 win over the Buccaneers averaged 30.6 million viewers across five Disney networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+). That’s up 32% from Disney’s comparable Los Angeles Rams vs. Arizona Cardinals Monday night Wild Card telecast last season. 

• Monday night’s game is tracking to become Disney’s most-watched NFL playoff game ever. When Nielsen issues final numbers Wednesday, Disney projects Cowboys-Buccaneers could surpass 31 million viewers – beating the record 30.7 million viewers for Cowboys vs. Cardinals in 1999. 

• The current 30.6 million viewers average tops all 18 NFL Playoff games shown on Disney-owned networks over the past 24 years, including ten exclusively on ABC (2000-2005), seven available on ABC and ESPN (2016-22), and one solely on ESPN (2015). 

• ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said the number proves live sports are “unequaled” in amassing big audiences. “The success is also a clear reflection of how ESPN, working alongside the NFL and our colleagues at Disney, can help attract fans, build anticipation, and expand our reach,” he said in a statement. “Even without a dramatic ending, it was an extraordinarily memorable evening.”
  
• Here are the Top 10 TV Markets for Monday Night: 1. Dallas. 2. San Antonio. 3. Kansas City. 4. Austin. 5. Tampa. 6. Philadelphia. 7. Sacramento. 8. Norfolk. 9. Jacksonville and Providence. How about Tom Brady’s old neighborhood in Boston? Try 21st.

• ESPN2’s alternate telecast with Peyton and Eli Manning drew 1.7 million viewers, up 17% from their comparable playoff telecast last year.

Media

| by Michael McCarthy

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Previously, CBS Sports said its telecast of the Buffalo Bills’ 34-31 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday delivered the network’s most-watched Wild Card telecast in nine years.

The telecast averaged 30.9 million viewers. It was the most-streamed Wild Card game ever on the Paramount+ streaming platform.  

With the Bucs done for the season, attention now turns again to the 45-year old Brady.

Will he move into Fox Sports’ No. 1 broadcast booth via a 10-year, $375 million deal? Or will he keep playing for Tampa or another team? In what looked like a farewell to the Tampa press, Brady said he’s taking it day by day.