The NFL averaged 37.3 million viewers for the four games in the Divisional round, down around 2% from last season, but still good enough for the third-best Divisional round on record (behind 37.8 million in 2022 and 2015). Fox led the way with 49ers-Cowboys on Sunday night, drawing 45.7 million viewers. That’s the second-best Divisional game on record (NFC or AFC), behind only 48.5 million for Packers-Cowboys in 2017 (late Sunday afternoon window on Fox). 49ers-Cowboys also is up from 42.7 million viewers for the epic Chiefs-Bills game in the same window last year on CBS. The previous night, Fox drew just 28.6 million for the Eagles’ beatdown of the Giants. That’s down 22% from 49ers-Packers in the same Saturday night window last year on Fox. CBS on Sunday in the 3pm ET window drew 39.323 million viewers for Bengals-Bills in the snow in Buffalo, down 1% from Rams-Buccaneers in the same window on NBC last year. However, the game marks the best AFC Divisional game in the early Sunday window on record. Bengals-Bills peaked at 45.1million viewers. NBC averaged 34.3 million viewers for the Chiefs’ win over the Jaguars on Saturday afternoon, up 12% from 30.8 million for Bengals-Titans on CBS in the same window last year.
| NFL Divisional round audience trend | ||
| YEAR | NETWORKS | AVG. VIEWERS (000) |
| 2023 | NBC, CBS, Fox (x2) | 37,300 |
| 2022 | NBC, Fox, CBS (x2) | 37,764 |
| 2021 | NBC, CBS, Fox (x2) | 31,000 |
| 2020 | NBC, Fox, CBS (x2) | 33,200 |
| 2019 | NBC, CBS, Fox (x2) | 32,414 |
