The Detroit Lions proved victorious with a 31-23 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon, closing out the season of National Football League live game broadcasts on NBC and streaming on Peacock. Custom fast national data from Nielsen Media Research and Adobe Analytics demonstrates an average audience of 40.4 million viewers on the network’s linear television channel, Peacock streaming service, NBC Sports Digital platform and NFL Digital medium. This figure places the game as NBC Sports’ most-watched NFL divisional playoff in 30 years and notched an average national NBC television household rating of 18.6 with a 52 share.
Detroit registered as the top metered market for the game, attaining a 40.5 rating with a 77 share, while Tampa was second with a 27.8 rating and 66 share. The contest featured Lions quarterback Jared Goff and Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, both of whom combined to pass for more than 600 yards and five touchdowns. The total game audience peaked at 49.1 million viewers from 6 to 6:12 p.m. EST when the Buccaneers tried to tie the game on a final drive that ultimately proved futile.
The average viewership number for the game renders it as the network’s most-watched game of the 2023 season, topping the previous week’s Wild Card round between the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions, which attained a multiplatform audience of 35.8 million viewers.
NBCUniversal became the first media company to present three NFL playoff games in one weekend, which included the Peacock exclusive Wild Card game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs. The company garnered an average viewership of 23 million for the contest, rendering it the most-streamed event in U.S. history and accounting for the most internet traffic in a single day.
Average viewership for the three NFL playoff games on NBC equated to approximately 31.9 million viewers on broadcast television, making it the largest NFL playoff audience average for NBC stations since 2020. The network’s Sunday Night Football property, which features play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico, color commentator Cris Collinsworth and sideline reporter Melissa Stark, is also pacing to be prime-time television’s No. 1 show in all key metrics for a 13th consecutive year.
