NFL's Divisional Round Draws 34 Million Viewers

Early windows show slight improvement; late windows both down from last year

By Tim Baysinger -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/15/2013 12:49:31 PM

It was another heavily-watched weekend of NFL football, as the Divisional Round of the playoffs averaged 34 million total viewers across Saturday and Sunday, though that was down 7% from last year's record-setting weekend (36.6 million), according to Nielsen numbers.

The two Saturday games averaged 33.1 million viewers, down 5%. CBS' 4:30 p.m. ET contest between the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos, which went into double-overtime, drew 35.3 million viewers, about the same as last year's early game (35.6 million). Fox's late game between the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers was down 10% from the same window last year with 30.9 million viewers. It should be noted that the first part of the Packers-49ers game aired while Ravens-Broncos was still in progress.

On Sunday, the two games averaged 34.6 million viewers, down 9%. Fox's early game between the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons drew 32.1 million viewers, up 4% from the same window last year. CBS' late game between the Houston Texans and New England Patriots (37.7 million) was well below last year's late Sunday game, which was the most-watched Divisional Round playoff game ever (45.1 million).

Overall, Fox averaged 31.5 million viewers for its two games and CBS drew 36.5 million.