Nothing draws eyeballs like pro football, but the first five games of the 2024 playoffs didn’t draw them quite like they did a year ago.
On Saturday afternoon, Chargers-Texans averaged 31.1 million on CBS, via Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. That was an increase from last year’s 29 million who watched the Browns-Texans opener.
Saturday night’s streaming-only game on Prime Video, Steelers-Ravens, did 22.07 million. Last year’s streaming-only game on Peacock averaged 22.86 million.
The 1:00 p.m. ET game on Sunday between the Broncos and Bills averaged 31.1 million viewers. That’s roughly the same, per Karp, as last year’s Steelers-Bills game, which was moved to Monday afternoon due to a snowstorm.
The 4:30 p.m. ET game averaged 35.6 million on Fox. Last year, Packers-Cowboys in the same window drew 40.2 million. (Yes, the Cowboys still draw.)
The Sunday night game between the Commanders and Buccaneers on NBC and Peacock averaged 29 million, per Karp. Last year’s Sunday night Rams-Lions game generated 36 million.
The Monday night game between the Vikings and Rams averaged 25.4 million. Last year’s Eagles-Buccaneers game on Monday night averaged 28.6 million.
Only one of the games — Commanders-Buccaneers — was decided late. The other games featured victory margins of 20 points, 14 points, 24 points, 12 points, and 18 points.
Also, this year’s Wild Card rounds didn’t include two of the biggest draws: the Cowboys and the Chiefs.
