AFC & NFC Championship Games Average 49.6 Million Viewers (TV+Digital); 60% of Americans Using Television in NFL Windows Watched Championship Sunday
Average Minute Audience on All Digital Platforms of 2.0 Million –; Highest Digital AMA on Record for Any Postseason Round Excluding Super Bowls
For Championship Sunday, the AFC and NFC Conference Championship games averaged 49.6 million viewers (TV+Digital) and nearly 100 million unique viewers tuned in.
The 49.6 million average ranks as the second most-watched Championship Sunday since 2016, and is up +10% vs. 2020 and up +16% vs. 2019. Both games also rank as the two most-watched television programs since Super Bowl LV.
Additionally, 60% of Americans using television in NFL windows on Championship Sunday were watching NFL games – the highest share for Championship Sunday on record.
Digitally, Championship Sunday produced an average minute audience of 2.0 million across NFL, Yahoo Sports and broadcaster platforms – ranking as the highest digital AMA for any postseason round excluding Super Bowls on record, and up +33% vs. 2020 and up +96% vs. 2019.
Socially, fans accounted for over 315 million video views of NFL produced content on Championship Sunday – up +40% vs. 2020. Additionally, NFL content on social media drove over 1.2 billion impressions across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat during Conference Championship week – up +33% vs. 2020 and up +34% vs. 2019. Finally, there were 7.6 million social media mentions of the NFL and clubs during the week leading up to Championship Sunday – the highest in the last three Conference Championship Weeks and up +44% vs. 2020.
On Twitter, NFL related content experienced an increase of +45% in tweets, +38% in unique authors and +60% in impressions vs. 2020.
The NFL playoffs averaged 36.3 million viewers (TV+Digital) – ranking as the most-watched NFL postseason since 2015-16 (37.5 million) and up +18% vs. 2020 – and 184 million viewers tuned in to postseason games. There were a total of 82 billion minutes of playoff coverage consumed across TV+Digital – the highest on record, and up +16% vs. 2020 and up +26% vs. 2019.
