Who was Sunday’s NFC Championship Game victory bigger for: The Seattle Seahawks or Fox?
The Seahawks 23-17 win landed a 28.5 national household rating/44 share according to Nielsen Media Research — an 18 percent uptick over last year’s match-up between San Francisco and Atlanta (24.2/45). The down-to-the-wire matchup pulled in 55.9 million viewers, a 33 percent increase.
Also read: Ratings: NFC Championship Nailbiter Gives Big Win to Seattle Seahawks, Fox
Those numbers qualify the contest as Fox’s highest-rated non-overtime NFC Championship Game since 1997 (30.1/58, Carolina vs. Green Bay), and is the most-watched non-overtime NFC Championship Game since 1995 (Dallas vs. San Francisco, 56.8 million viewers).
The NFL Playoffs continue to be a boon for the network. Up to this point, the postseason games on Fox have averaged a 23.1/40, with 42.0 million viewers — up 13 percent in rating and up 18 percent in audience over last year (20.5/36, 35.7 million viewers).
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Not surprisingly, Seattle led all markets on Sunday with a 54.3/85, followed by San Francisco (47.5/78); Sacramento (46.7/72); Portland (39.5/63); and Milwaukee (38.9/57), rounding out the top five.
Fox also has Super Bowl XLVIII, which will air on Sunday, Feb 2. The Seattle Seahawks will take on the AFC Champion Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.