OT games score big

Conference Championships paid off big for networks on Sunday. Nearly 54 million people tuned to in watch CBS Sports’ coverage of the Patriots/Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, clocking 53.9 million viewers to rank as the second-most watched AFC Championship Game in 42 years, according to Nielsen fast national ratings. The OT matchup drew an average household rating/share of 27.5/46, up 27% versus last year’s comparable Championship Game window. CBS reports that streaming coverage of the AFC Championship Game drove significant viewership growth from last year’s game, with the average minute audience up 77% and total minutes streamed up 64% year-over-year.

FOX, meanwhile, saw the NFC Championship rank as FOX’s highest-rated and most-watched broadcast since Super Bowl LI. Combined across FOX, FOX Deportes and the FOX Sports App, the Rams’ OT win produced 45,037,000 total viewers, up 5% over last year with FOX alone generating 44,075,000 million viewers.

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