Ratings Roundup: NFL Sees 8% Drop During Wild Card Weekend; ESPN Experiences Most-Watched Cotton Bowl in CFP Semifinal By SVG Staff
Friday, January 17, 2025 - 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, the NFL saw a drop of 8% in ratings during the six games in Wild Card weekend, the CFP Semifinals on ESPN saw an average of 17.8 million viewers for the Cotton Bowl and an average of 17.8 million viewers for the Orange Bowl, respectively, and more.
NFL Viewership Drops 8% for Wild Card Weekend The NFL's playoff ratings took a hit over the extended wild-card weekend, according to Sportico. Per Nielsen's live-plus-same-day data, the six wild-card games averaged 27.8 million viewers, which marked an 8% decline versus the 30.2 million per game they scared up in last year's opening sextet. The average deliveries were down 2.42 million viewers per game compared to the 2024 wild-card slate. Here is a breakdown of each game:
Chargers vs. Texans on CBS
The early window on Saturday saw 26 million viewers, which was up 1%, or 175,000, versus last year's Browns-Texans blowout on NBC.
Steelers vs. Ravens on Prime Video
Saturday night's Steelers-Ravens Wild Card playoff game on Prime Video attracted the most concurrent viewers ever to the service. Per Nielsen, the game reached an all-time high of 24.66M viewers during the 9:00-9:15PM ET portion of the 2nd quarter. In addition to establishing the highest peak audience on record for Prime Video, it also marked the largest peak audience figure for an NFL Wild Card Saturday Night game since 2022.
Despite the lopsided nature of the contest and Baltimore's 21-0 halftime lead, Prime Video's average audience of 22.07 million viewers also established an all-time high. In fact, Saturday night's Wild Card game cleared the NFL on Prime's best-ever average audience mark by nearly five million viewers (vs. 17.29M, Packers-Lions, 12/5/24).
The streamer's first-ever NFL postseason event capped off a tremendous season of NFL coverage on Prime Video that welcomed the franchise's second consecutive season of double-digit viewership growth, and a set of new all-time highs for Thursday Night Football, which will enter its 20th season in September.
Below find viewership highlights from Saturday night's game. Please note that all the below figures are from Nielsen's Panel Only measurement.
According to Nielsen, Steelers-Ravens on Prime Video peaked at 24.66M viewers (9:00 - 9:15PM ET).
Saturday's Steelers-Ravens game also registered the highest peak audience for an NFL Wild Card Saturday Night game since 2022.
Saturday's audience posted a 31% increase over the previous all-time peak (18.87M, Packers-Lions on 12/5/24).
Prime Video averaged 22.07 million viewers on Saturday night, setting an all-time high for the NFL on Prime.
Saturday's viewership posted 67% higher than the 2024 TNF season average (vs. 13.20M), and 28% higher than the previous all-time high for the NFL on Prime (17.29M, Packers-Lions, 12/5/2024).
Average viewership of Steelers-Ravens on Prime Video landed slightly below (-3%) last year's Saturday Night Wild Card matchup between the Dolphins and Chiefs (22.86M), which featured a competitive first half.
Steelers-Ravens posted a 7% increase over the 2023 Saturday Night Wild Card matchup between the Chargers and Jaguars (20.61M), which was decided on the final play of the game.
Five Most-Watched NFL on Prime games:
22.07M, Steelers-Ravens, 1/11/2025
17.29M, Packers-Lions, 12/5/24
16.23M, Cowboys-Giants, 9/26/24
15.26M, Seahawks-Cowboys, 11/30/23
15.06M, Vikings-Eagles, 9/14/23
Among viewers in the sought-after P18-34 demographic, Steelers-Ravens averaged 3.98M, a new all-time high for the NFL on Prime and 14% higher than the previous mark (3.48M, Vikings-Eagles, 9/14/2023).
Among viewers in the P18-49 demographic, Steelers-Ravens averaged 9.54M, a new all-time high for the NFL on Prime and 24% higher than the previous mark (7.69M, Cowboys-Giants, 9/26/2024).
Prime Video's NFL Wild Card pregame show averaged 2.03M on Saturday night while facing overlap from the earlier Wild Card game, marking an increase of 33% over the 2024 season average of TNF's pregame show TNF Tonight (1.53M).
Prime Video's NFL Wild Card Nightcap postgame show averaged 3.54M on Saturday night, marking an increase of 74% over the 2024 season average of TNF's postgame show TNF Nightcap (2.04M).
Broncos vs. Bills on CBS
Kicking off the early afternoon window on Sunday was Broncos vs. Bills on CBS. The game saw 31.1 million viewers, which was up 1%, or 53,000 viewers, compared to the network's lone wild card broadcast of 2024 (Steelers-Bills).
Packers vs. Eagles on FOX
35.9 million viewers tuned in across FOX, FOX Deportes, and FOX Sports streaming platforms for Philadelphia's Wild Card victory over Green Bay. This was the most-watched telecast of the week on any network with 35,885,000 viewers on FOX. This was also FOX's second-best Wild Card performance since 2017 (39,346,000 viewers for New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers). In addition, the audience peaked with 39,510,000 viewers from 7 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. ET.
Commanders-Buccaneers on NBC
Sunday's nightcap between the Commanders and Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium averaged 29 million viewers, which was down 19% from last year's primetime Rams-Lions showcase (36 million). The previous number included streaming impressions. Linear only, the telecast delivered 26.2 million, which was off 19% versus 32.1 million.
Vikings vs. Rams on ESPN
ESPN concluded the NFL's Wild Card Weekend with the Vikings and Rams (January 13, 8:15 p.m.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Ratings Roundup: NFL Sees 8% Drop During Wild Card Weekend; ESPN Experiences Most-Watched Cotton Bowl in CFP Semifinal By SVG Staff 
