NFL Ratings Roundup: Cowboys-Buccaneers Breaks 31.2 Million Viewers for Most Watched Playoff Game in Walt Disney Companys History By SVG Staff
Friday, January 20, 2023 - 12:16 pm
Print This Story
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, the Walt Disney Company delivers the most watched playoff game since 1999, ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown is the most-watched season since 2019, and more.
ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown Delivers Most-Watched Season Since 2019, as ESPN's NFL Studio Shows Achieve 2022-23 Regular Season Viewership Successes The 2022 NFL regular season saw ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown deliver its most-watched season since 2019, one of several shows of strengths across ESPN's NFL studio programming. Monday Night Countdown, NFL Live, NFL Rewind and NFL Matchup all increased or maintained their audience pace from the 2021 regular season, and NFL Primetime remained a leader on ESPN , an impressive feat for a portfolio of shows which also had documented viewership success last season. ESPN's regular season success was evident throughout the 18 weeks, as documented at the halfway point of the year.
Sunday NFL Countdown Up 7% Year-Over-Year and Up Double-Digits in Young Adults
Sunday NFL Countdown (Sundays, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. ET) averaged 1,240,000 viewers this season, the weekly pre-game show's best viewership since 2019. Year-over-year, the Sunday three-hour studio programming increased its viewership by a healthy 7% (1,160,000 viewers in 2021). Examining demos, viewership among adults 18-24 was up 13% and female viewership was up 8%.
Monday Night Countdown Delivers Most-Watched Episode Since 2018
Monday Night Countdown (Mondays, 6 - 8 p.m.) delivered the show's most-watched Monday episode since 2018 when the December 26 edition averaged 2,000,000 viewers. For the entire season, the pre-game show maintained a strong audience from last year, averaging 1.5 million viewers, in line with last year's audience. Looking at specific demos, the show was up 4% in adults 18-24.
NFL Live Matches Best Viewership Since 2016, Continues Multiple Year Momentum
NFL Live (weekdays, 4-5 p.m.) continued its breakneck viewership accolades this season, as the daily news and information show averaged 423,000 viewers per episode. The viewership matches the show's best season audience in five years (2016) and continues the show's viewership successes from 2021 and 2020. In November, NFL Live averaged 452,000 viewers per episode, marking the show's third best monthly audience since December 2018.
NFL Rewind, NFL Matchup Both Grow Audiences
NFL Rewind (Mondays, 3-4 p.m.) raised its own bar again, delivering the highlight and recap show's best regular season audience in its three full seasons. The weekly show averaged 373,000 viewers, up from the 2021 season (370,000 viewers).
NFL Matchup earned its best audience since 2019, as the weekly show averaged 267,000 viewers. The audience was up 4% year over year. The most-viewed episode was Nov. 19 with 474,000 viewers.
NFL Primetime Leads the Way on ESPN
NFL Primetime (Sundays, 7:30 p.m. ET and on-demand) was the top original studio program on ESPN during the season.
The Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Wild Card Finale is a Record Breaker for The Walt Disney Company and ESPN ESPN's presentation of Dallas Cowboys-Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday, Jan. 16 (8:15 p.m. ET) is a record breaker for The Walt Disney Company and ESPN. The viewership was elevated to 31.2 million with final Nielsen viewership reporting (ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN and ESPN Deportes), driving the Super Wild Card finale to become the most-watched NFL Playoff game in Disney's history and easily surpassing any NFL Playoff game that has aired, in part, on ESPN. Disney's first NFL Playoff game followed the 1996 season.
This final viewership further elevates the status of the game, which previously was Disney's second most-watched NFL Playoff game since 1999 based on Nielsen fast nationals - as reported on January 17.
The viewership of over 31 million viewers bested all 22 Disney NFL Playoff games in the previous 27 years, including 14 exclusively on ABC (1996-2005), seven available on ABC and ESPN (2016-22) and one solely on ESPN (2015). The viewership is up 35 percent from Disney's Super Wild Card game concluding the 2021-22 season (Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams), the first Monday night Super Wild Card game. This weekend, across all networks, Cowboys-Buccaneers was most-watched primetime NFL Playoff game.
The Cowboys-Buccaneers audience peaked at 36.4 million viewers late in the first half (9-9:15 p.m. ET).
This exceptional number proves once again that live sports are unequaled in amassing large audiences, said Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content. 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. Even without a dramatic ending, it was an extraordinarily memorable evening.
The Super Wild Card finale represented Disney's first playoff game with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the call. Lisa Salters was the sideline reporter, calling her ninth playoff game for Disney.
Cowboys-Buccaneers Among Disney's Most-Watched NFL Games Ever
The Cowboys-Buccaneers matchup is also the most-watched NFL game presented by The Walt Disney Company since Super Bowl XL in February 2006. Excluding TWDC's three Super Bowls, Cowboys-Buccaneers represents the second most-watched NFL game in Disney's history.
Please note: Disney's ownership of ABC/ESPN began February 1996
Disney has aired Super Bowl XXXIV, Super Bowl XXXVI, and Super Bowl XL.
Monday Night Countdo
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
NFL Ratings Roundup: Cowboys-Buccaneers Breaks 31.2 Million Viewers for Most Watched Playoff Game in Walt Disney Companys History By SVG Staff 
