Wild Card games open with a bang

The NFL opened its postseason on a high, as the Ravens win on NBC ranked as the second most-watched Saturday AFC Wild Card game in the past 20 seasons. The win over the Steelers averaged 28.0 million viewers, according to Fast National data from Nielsen. Top markets included Pittsburgh at a 46.5/67, followed by Baltimore, Cincinnati, Denver and Las Vegas. NBC’s playoff coverage continues Saturday, Jan. 10 with the AFC Divisional Playoff as the Ravens, on a three-game road win streak in the postseason, visit the top-seeded New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

Meanwhile, ESPN’s foray into the postseason averaged a 12.5 with 21,678,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals, to rank as the network’s third highest-rated NFL game ever. In Phoenix, the game delivered a 21.6 rating on ESPN and a 7.3 on KASW-CW, for a combined 28.9 rating in the market. In Charlotte, the game delivered a 20.4 rating on ESPN and a 16.3 on WJZY-FOX, for a combined 36.6 rating in the market. The top 5 metered markets (in addition to those of the competing teams) included: Greensboro (25.8), Las Vegas (19.6), Raleigh-Durham (19.5), Greenville (19.5), Denver (18.5).

Related Stories

Whoopi Goldberg and cast mates will take The Stand on CBS All Access Dec. 17

whoopi-goldberg

The Stand, CBS All Access’ television adaptation of the storied 1978 Stephen King novel, will debut December 17. Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgard, James Marsden, Odessa Young, Jovan Adepo and Amber Heard, the limited series unfolds around King’s apocalyptic struggle between good and evil after a plague destroys most of the country. Ben Cavell serves […]

McKinnon lands unprecedented Exotic deal

Get ready cats and kittens. Joe Exotic (working title), UCP’s limited series starring and exec-produced by Kate McKinnon, scored a straight-to-series order by both the NBCU television and streaming divisions. In an unprecedented move, project will roll out across broadcast net NBC, streamer Peacock, and a basic cable net USA. Series is based on the […]

Cat’s meow: Quaid will star in his own animal rescue story

Cat's meow: Quaid will star in his own animal rescue story

Dennis Quaid is the cat’s meow. He’s partnering with ITV America’s Leftfield Pictures for unscripted TV project Saving Dennis Quaid, which he’ll star in and exec produce. Project documents the animal lover’s recent headline-making pet rescue where he and partner Jimmy Jellinek set out on a mission to adopt a 6-year-old black cat from Lynchburg, […]

Turner Sports Shaq’s up

Big news at Turner Sports, as the company lands a multiyear extension of its partnership with Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq’s expanded role gains the Basketball Hall of Famer more airtime, including on TNT’s Inside the NBA and NBA on TNT, as well as contributions to NBA.com. He also will develop projects throughout the WarnerMedia portfolio including […]

The Tonys go digital

The Tonys go digital

The 74th Annual Tony Awards ceremony will go on, presented digitally sometime in the fall. Date and platform are TBA. The event had originally been scheduled for June 7, but was replaced by plans for a streaming special on the same date due to COVID-19. That special was postponed amid unrest over the George Floyd […]

CynCity

Cynsiders

Instagram