While much of the attention towards NBC surrounds its Peacock-only streaming game, the other game on its docket posted impressive viewership numbers, too. The Saturday afternoon tilt between the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans averaged 29 million viewers, making it the most-watched Saturday Wild Card game on the network since 2014 and overall since 2020.
The game featured NBC’s Big 10 Saturday Night Football Game crew of Noah Eagle on play-by-play, Todd Blackledge as the analyst and Kathryn Tappen as the sideline reporter.
Unfortuntely the game itself was not much of a contest. A 24-14 lead for Houston at halftime, turned in to a 45-14 route for the Texans.
The game only had one small mention in NBC Sports’ press release, despite averaging 6 million more viewers than its sibling. All the ballyhoo was made about NBC’s Peacock-exclusive game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs reaching 23 million viewers across digital and linear broadcasts in local markets, making it the most streamed event in U.S. history.
