The NFL is clearly the most dominant cultural force in America. While TV viewership across all genres and events is declining, the NFL continues to grow. Of course, NFL playoff games get the highest ratings, along with holiday games like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The crowd was bigger than usual this year as the San Francisco 49ers set a new record by defeating the Green Bay Packers 24-21 on Saturday night.The game averaged 37.5 million primetime viewers on the East Coast, according to Fox. Fox claims this is the most watched Saturday broadcast since the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, France, which is pretty cool.
And if you want to age, 1994 was 30 years ago. To put those numbers into perspective, the most-watched TV show of the 2022-2023 season was Paramount’s Yellowstone with 11.55 million views. That’s a far cry from the huge numbers the NFL puts out, especially in Saturday night playoff games.
The fans who watched this also enjoyed the exciting match. Green Bay, the last team in the NFC to make the playoffs, dominated the game from start to finish. But the 49ers got most of the interceptions to keep it close, and a touchdown drive by quarterback Brock Purdy and an interception by Christian McCaffrey gave them a 24-21 lead with just over a minute left in the football.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw a terrible interception as the Packers tried to get into field goal range to tie the game. I’m sure the NFL is looking forward to Sunday’s primetime game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills. This could set a new attendance record.
