Ratings Roundup: CBS Sports, Nickelodeon Leads NFL Super Wild Card Weekend By SVG Staff
Friday, January 21, 2022 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Ratings roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, we take a look at the numbers from last weekend's NFL Super Wild Card weekend, including the most-watched Wild Card game in seven years on CBS Sports and Nickelodeon.
CBS Sports and Nickelodeon Deliver Most-Watch NFL Wild Card Game in Seven Years CBS Sports and Nickelodeon's presentation of the 49ers' victory over the Cowboys on Sunday, Jan. 16 scored as the most-watched NFL Wild Card game on any network in seven years, averaging 41.496 million viewers across both networks and up 35% versus last year's comparable game.
The audience peaked with more than 50 million viewers (50.229) for the game's conclusion.
Paramount registered its most-streamed non-Super Bowl NFL weekend ever and 49ers-Cowboys scored as its most-streamed non-Super Bowl game of all-time. Super Wild Card Weekend delivered double-digit year-over-year growth in total streams, streaming minutes and unique viewers from last year's Super Wild Card games.
After recording its most-watched regular season in six years, The NFL on CBS continued its strong viewership into the postseason as the 41.496 million viewers for 49ers-Cowboys marked CBS' most-watched Wild Card game in 10 years (Pittsburgh-Denver, 1/8/12, 42.371) and ranks as the Network's second-most watched Wild Card game on record (since 1988).
The game is the most-watched television program on any network since Super Bowl LV on CBS and THE NFL ON CBS has delivered the only two programs with more than 40 million viewers during that span (49ers-Cowboys, 41.496 million viewers and Raiders-Cowboys on Thanksgiving, 40.802 million viewers).
In addition, the Buffalo Bills' 30-point victory over the New England Patriots in primetime on Saturday, Jan. 15 averaged 26.373 million viewers, a 23% increase over last year's comparable Saturday night game.
NBC'S Steelers-Chiefs Sunday NFL Wild Card Game Named Most-Watched Primetime Show Since Super Bowl LV NBC Sports' presentation of two NFL Super Wild Card Weekend games posted viewership milestones, delivered increases over the games in last year's corresponding time slots, and set NBC Sports Digital NFL streaming records.
Across both games, NBC Sports' Total Audience Delivery average of 29.7 million viewers is up 23% from its Super Wild Card Weekend coverage last year (24.1 million TAD).
Sunday Night (Pittsburgh-Kansas City)
Despite Kansas City's 35-7 lead early in the third quarter, Sunday night's Steelers-Chiefs game averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 30.5 million viewers across NBC, Telemundo, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital and NFL Digital platforms - up 17% from last year's Sunday night Wild Card game on the same platforms (26.1 million for Browns-Steelers), according to official data released today by Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
The NBC audience of 28.9 million viewers ranks as television's most-watched primetime show since Super Bowl LV in February 2021. Viewership on NBC peaked at 33.8 million viewers at the end of the first half from 9:30-9:45 p.m. ET. Sunday night's game (8:16-11:11 p.m. ET), highlighted by five Patrick Mahomes touchdown passes in Kansas City's 42-21 win, registered a national TV household rating of 14.7/33 - up 10% from last year (13.4/28).
Steelers-Chiefs delivered an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 1.25 million viewers across Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms, NFL Digital platforms, Steelers and Chiefs mobile properties, and Yahoo Sports mobile properties - ranking as the most streamed NBC NFL playoff game ever, excluding Super Bowls. The prior NBC Sports' NFL playoff record was set just one day earlier as Saturday's Raiders-Bengals game delivered an AMA of 1.21 million viewers.
Top Metered Markets for Steelers-Chiefs:
Kansas City 50.5/80
Pittsburgh 41.0/67
Buffalo 27.0/48
New Orleans 23.1/40
Cincinnati 22.0/44
Nashville 20.7/39
Milwaukee 19.8/39
Albuquerque 19.1/36
Cleveland 18.9/40
Columbus 18.8/38
Saturday Afternoon (Las Vegas-Cincinnati)
Cincinnati's 23-16 victory over Las Vegas, headlined by Bengals QB Joe Burrow's 244 passing yards and two touchdowns in his first career playoff start, averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 29.0 million viewers ranking as the most-watched Saturday afternoon Wild Card game since 1999 (30.7 million for Arizona-Dallas on ABC) and up 30% from NBC Sports' Saturday night Wild Card game in January 2021 (22.3 million for Tampa Bay-Washington).
Raiders-Bengals averaged 27.7 million viewers on NBC, an increase of 13% from last year's LA. Rams-Seattle matchup in the same time window (24.5 million viewers on FOX). Saturday's game (4:36-7:53 p.m. ET) registered a national TV household rating of 14.2/36 - up 23% from last year's NBC Saturday Wild Card (11.5/25 for Bucs-WFT) and up 12% from Rams-Seattle in the same time slot (12.7/30).
Top Metered Markets for Raiders-Bengals:
Cincinnati 42.2/74
Dayton 28.6/54
New Orleans 26.5/50
Columbus 23.0/52
Buffalo 22.8/43
Kansas City 21.9/46
Las Vegas 21.4/54
Providence 19.5/41
Pittsburgh 18.9/41
Nashville 18.5/38
Milwaukee 18.5/44
ESPN's MegaCast Draws More Than 23.1 Million Viewers for the Los Angeles Rams' Decisive Victory Over the Arizona Cardinals The NFL Super Wild Card Weekend concluded on a Monday night (Jan. 17) for the first time, as ESPN's MegaCast presentation (ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes) registered 23,150,000 viewers for the Los Angeles Rams 23-point victory over the Arizona Cardinals. The audience peaked at 27.9 mill
Most recent headlines
03/01/2026
A still from OBEX by Albert Birney, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance...
02/01/2026
Freezing Florida: NHL's EVP, Entertainment Bob Chesterman on Taking the Wint...
02/01/2026
NHL Winter Classic 2026: TNT Sports Prepares for First NHL Outdoor Game in Sunsh...
02/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
02/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
02/01/2026
Any Given Day: Cork University Hospital premieres Wednesday 7 January on RT One and RT Player at 9:35pm
RT will debut a powerful new six-part documentary se...
02/01/2026
Friday 2 January 2026
All episodes of Heated Rivalry will be landing on Sky and...
02/01/2026
Sequins, chat shows, live sporting action, ground-breaking docuseries and brand-new Irish drama to kick off 2026
New Year, New Content Coming Soon across RT
...
01/01/2026
Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Announces 2026 Noel Schajris Scholarship The scholarship will cover tuition and housing for one Berklee College of Music stud...
01/01/2026
New year, new games, all with RTX 5080-powered cloud energy. GeForce NOW is kicking off 2026 by looking back at an unforgettable year of wins and wildly high fr...
31/12/2025
Back to All News
NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix Scores Again With the Lions-V...
30/12/2025
As the College Football Playoff Enters the Quarterfinals, ESPN Blows Out Its Meg...
30/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Original ArticlesTake a look back at all our coverage of big-time productions, game-changing technologies, and state-of-the-art new faci...
30/12/2025
MELBOURNE, Fla., Dec. 30, 2025 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) will release its fourth quarter 2025 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, J...
30/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
30/12/2025
Your live countdown to 2026 with Inhaler, David Gray, Lyra, Garron Noone, Sharon...
30/12/2025
It marked the first civilian operational authorization for a HAPS flight in Europe, led by Space42's subsidiary, Mira Aerospace
The flight demonstrated HAP...
29/12/2025
San Francisco 49ers Strike Gold With Halftime Laser SpectacularStunning display caps $200 million renovation of Levi's Stadium techBy Dan Daley, Audio Edito...
29/12/2025
The Cup's Around the Corner: An Inside Look at Broadcast Preparations for th...
29/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Longform VideoWatch the standout keynote conversations, deep dives, and panel discussions from the year for free on SVG PLAY!By Brandon ...
29/12/2025
From crisper Lossless audio and immersive music videos in beta to new Audiobooks+ plans, custom transitions between tracks, and in-app Messages, we keep levelin...
29/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
27/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
RT has unveiled an exclusive first look at the new Dancing with the Stars promo...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
The Boyfriend' Season 2 Unveils Heartwarming Trailer, Key...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today!By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
P...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
Ratings Roundup: CBS Sports, Nickelodeon Leads NFL Super Wild Card Weekend By SVG Staff 
