Over a five-day period, football fans (college and NFL) feasted on eight playoff games. With a primetime game airing on all five nights. There were two semifinal games for the newly expanded college football playoffs. The CFP was followed by six opening round (a.k.a. wild card) NFL games played over the following three days. In all instances the losing team goes home. Despite an average audience greater than most any other program, the viewing for CFP semifinals and NFL wild card round were both lower than last year’s.
College Football Playoffs: This year the CFP was expanded from four teams to a 12-team format. The increase in games also pushed the schedule back from previous seasons. The national championship game will be played this January 20, compared to January 8 last season.
In the new format, the 4 seeded groups obtained byes in the first round. Surprisingly, none of the 4 most sensible groups won and failed to qualify for the next round. The 4 semi-finalists; Penn State, Notre Dame, Texas and Ohio State were ranked 5th through 8th.
The first semifinal game was the Orange Bowl (Miami) on January 9 between Notre Dame and Penn State. Despite a close score (Notre Dame won 27-24), the game averaged 17.8 million viewers across three ESPN networks (ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU). The audience delivery was a sharp decline from the first CFP semifinal game last year played on New Year’s Day (Michigan-Alabama), which averaged 27.8 million viewers played at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. The viewing had even outpaced last year’s last year’s national championship game of 24.1 million.
The following night Ohio State faced Texas in the Cotton Bowl (Dallas). Ohio State defeated Texas 28-14. For the second game, the audience rebounded, averaging 20.6 million viewers across the three ESPN networks. This was an increase from last year’s second semifinal, also played on New Year’s Day. Last year, the nightcap of the holiday doubleheader (Washington-Texas) averaged 18.8 million viewers.
Sports Media Watch notes that it is the most-watched Friday night television broadcast since an NFL regular-season game was played on Christmas 2020. In addition, according to Taboola, all school playoff games and the NFL played over the five-day weekend, the largest online readers. on October 10, the day of the Ohio State-Texas game.
The two semifinal games averaged 19.2 million viewers, compared to last year’s 23.2 million viewers, a year-over-year decline of -17%. According to Front Office Sports, among the reasons for the decline include; last year’s games were both played on New Year’s Day, a holiday traditionally reserved for college bowl games. Also, neither game was played at the Rose Bowl, which has typically delivered the most viewers than any other college bowl game venue.
Heading into the national championship, the top-rated CFP game has been Ohio State’s upset victory over top -ranked Oregon. The quarterfinal game played at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, averaged 21.1 million viewers.
As for the tournament to date, 4 first circular matches have been held, two each broadcast on ESPN and TNT Sports (which are sublicensed through ESPN). ESPN televised all 4 quarterfinal matches and semifinal matches.
NFL: NFL playoff games began the day after the CFP semifinals ended. There was a doubleheader on Saturday, a tripleheader on Sunday and a game on Monday night.
CBS kicked off the wild-card weekend with an afternoon game on Saturday. The game (Houston-L. A. Chargers) averaged 26. 6 million viewers, a slight increase (2%) over last year’s game at the same time aired on NBC. Houston won the game . 32-12 to advance.
Like last year, an NFL wild card aired exclusively on Saturday night. Last year, it aired on Peacock and averaged 22. 9 million viewers. This season, the game was released on Amazon’s Prime Video. The game featured division rivals Baltimore and Pittsburgh, which Baltimore won 28–14. Using Nielsen data, Prime Video averaged 22. 1 million viewers. The audience peaked at 24. 7 million between nine o’clock in the evening. and a quarter past nine at night. (ET) in the second trimester.
Even though last season’s game dropped on Peacock, viewership surpassed all Thursday Night Football games on Prime Video. Previously, the highest average viewership was a regular-season playoff game between Detroit and Green Bay last month, which averaged 17. 3 million viewers. (By comparison, the two games released on Christmas Day on Netflix averaged more than 24 million viewers. )
The Sunday afternoon game broadcast on CBS. (This season, CBS is the only network airing two wild card games. ) The game (Buffalo-Denver) averaged 31. 2 million viewers, a slight 2% increase from last year’s game. Buffalo won the game handily 31-7.
Fox’s NFC wild-card game aired Sunday afternoon (Philadelphia-Green Bay) drew 35. 9 million viewers, the largest audience of the six games. Philadelphia won the game 22-10. The game was the third-most-watched NFL game this season after two Thanksgiving afternoon games. Still, Sportico reports that this is a drop from last year’s Green Bay-Dallas game that aired around the same time and on the same network.
Sunday night’s primetime game on NBC/Peacock averaged 29 million viewers (including 26. 2 million on NBC). Of the six games on the long weekend, Washington-Tampa Bay is the most exciting. In the final minute, Washington earned a 23-20 road victory. Despite a close game, viewership was down approximately 20% from last year’s wild card contest (Detroit-L. A. Rams), which averaged 35. 8 million viewers. It is also the least-watched Sunday Night Wild Card game since the format was expanded to include six games in 2021.
The sixth and final NFL game, Monday Night Football, between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota. Following the wildfires in Los Angeles, the game was moved to Glendale, Arizona. The last wild card game aired on ABC/ESPN and averaged 25. 3 million viewers, down 13% from last year.
With such popular groups as Kansas City (who earned a bye) and Dallas (who failed to qualify) playing, as well as a series of explosions; This season’s six wild card games averaged 27. 8 million viewers, down -8% from last year’s average of 30. 2 million viewers.
The next match will take place on Monday, January 20. The game will feature Notre Dame, which last won the title in 1988, and Ohio State, which last won in 2014. The game will take place in Atlanta and will be broadcast on ABC/ESPN. According to Taboola readers, enthusiasts have expressed much more interest in Notre Dame.
Before the national championship game, there will be the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Saturday afternoon’s game (kickoff at 4:30 p. m. ET) will air on Fox and two-time Super Bowl defending champion Kansas City will host Houston. Later at 8 p. m. ET on ABC/ESPN, Detroit will host Washington. The next day, in the first match on Sunday (3 p. m. ET), Philadelphia will host the Los Angeles Rams. The game will be broadcast on NBC. In the fourth and final game, Buffalo will host Baltimore. The start will be at 6:30 p. m. horas. ET and broadcast on CBS.
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