Ratings Roundup: AFC Championship Snatches Second Most-Watched in 42 Years; UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ Debuts With 525K Additional Subscribers

Ratings roundup is a rundown of rating news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, the AFC Championship drew nearly 54 million viewers, the highly-controversial NFC Championship between the Saints and Rams earns a 24.5 rating, UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ posts a favorable debut, and the Wednesday doubleheader of NBA on ESPN was up 40%.

Photo: AP/Charlie Neibergall

54 Million Witness Patriots Return to Third Consecutive Super Bowl
CBS Sports’ coverage of the New England-Kansas City AFC Championship Game on Sunday, Jan. 20 (6:41-10:21 PM, ET) averaged 53.9 million viewers (Persons 2+), making it the second-most watched AFC Championship Game in 42 years (CBS records go back to the 1977-78 NFL season), according to Nielsen fast national ratings.

The 53.9 million viewers for the game is up +27% versus last year’s comparable Championship Game window (42.3 million for Minnesota-Philadelphia in last year’s late-game). Compared to last year’s AFC matchup between the Pats and the Jacksonville Jaguars, the game was a +13% increase in ratings (vs. 24.3) and a +22% in viewers (vs. 44.1 million).

Patriots-Chiefs earned a fast-national live + same-day average household rating/share of 27.5/46, also up +27% versus last year’s comparable Championship Game window (21.7/35 for Minnesota-Philadelphia).

The AFC Championship Game peaked with 63.8 million viewers and a 32.5/52 rating/share from 9:30-10:00 PM, ET.

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.

NFC Championship Posts Slight Decline
Despite a 26-23 overtime win by the Los Angeles Rams over the New Orleans Saints, the broadcast received a small dip — a 1% increase in ratings, but down a fraction of a percent in viewership, according to SportsMediaWatch.

The game received some positive numbers as well. The game registered Fox’s highest-rated and most-watched broadcast since Super Bowl LI. Combined across Fox, Fox Deportes, and the Fox Sports App, Sunday afternoon’s NFC Championship Game produced 45,037,000 total viewers, up +5% over last year (vs. 42,875,000 viewers). The contest peaked with 54,057,000 viewers. On the Fox Sports digital front, the afternoon performance ended on a high note with an average minute audience of 818,609 marking the 2018-19 season as the most-streamed NFL season ever on Fox. Rams-Saints is the most-streamed NFL playoff game in Fox history, up +75% over last year’s NFC Championship matchup (vs. 468,000 AMA).

Overall, the entire 2018-19 playoff slate is up 12% compared to last year’s postseason.

UFC Fight Night Debuts on ESPN+
Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ debut, featuring 13 fights live from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, saw Henry Cejudo successfully defend his flyweight championship against bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw in a stunning 32-second finish, and led to a record-setting night with 568,000 new subscribers for ESPN+ on Friday and Saturday combined – over 525,000 Saturday alone. It marks the largest event and subscription catalyst for ESPN+ thus far.

The UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ Prelims card aired on ESPN and ESPN Deportes from 8:15 -10 p.m. ET. The telecast averaged a 1.4 metered market rating, making it the highest-rated UFC Fight Night Prelims on cable since at least 2013.

There were also more than 1.8 million unique visitors to MMA-related digital content across ESPN digital platforms (ESPN App, ESPN.com, etc.), which was the most-trafficked Saturday for MMA content on record.

NBA on ESPN Wednesday Doubleheader
ESPN’s Wednesday NBA doubleheader was up 40% in metered-market ratings from the comparable doubleheader last year, according to Nielsen. The two games averaged a 1.4 metered market rating, up from a 1.0. Both the Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors game and the Golden State Warriors vs. New Orleans Pelicans game telecasts delivered a 1.4 rating.

The Celtics victory over the Raptors was up from last year’s Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game that delivered a 1.2 metered market rating. The Warriors victory over the Pelicans was up from the Denver Nuggets vs. LA Clippers game that drew a 0.8 rating.

Additionally, the NBA on ABC is currently up 5% in viewership from last season.