For the first time in the history of the NFL, two 14-win teams faced one another in a regular-season game with the division and No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff picture on the line. The Detroit Lions ultimately earned a 15th victory and the coveted first-round bye, while the Vikings secured the No. 5 seed and finished second in the NFC North division. The matchup on NBC Sports was the most-watched season finale of Sunday Night Football since 2012, averaging 28.5 million viewers on NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms and NFL Digital platforms, according to data from Nielsen Media Research and Adobe Analytics.
Compared to last year’s contest in Week 18, which was a matchup for the AFC East title between Buffalo and Miami, viewership of the game was up 24%. The audience for the game peaked at approximately 31 million viewers in the quarter-hour from 9:30 to 9:45 p.m. EST. Play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico, analyst Cris Collinsworth and reporter Melissa Stark were on the call for the game. NBC Sports also presented its Football Night in America studio show live from Ford Field, marking the first time the entire studio team has been on site for a regular-season finale since 2006.
“It’s been rewarding to work in concert with the league to make #Game272 one of the cornerstones of the NFL schedule,” Rick Cordella, president of NBC Sports, said in a statement. “And the game’s significance has never been more evident than last night when the nation gathered in primetime to watch one of the most consequential NFL season finales ever. With a blockbuster audience, this game – the first-ever regular season matchup between 14-win teams – was the perfect setting to announce the six NFL Playoff matchups and launch excitement for Wild Card weekend.”
Sunday’s game between the Lions and Vikings is the third most-watched game in the history of the Sunday Night Football broadcast package on NBC, which first started airing on the network since 2006. The two games that finished ahead of this matchup was the Washington-Dallas game for the NFC East title in 2012 (30.3 million viewers), and the NFL Kickoff Game between Kansas City and Baltimore earlier this season (29.2 million viewers).
On the year as a whole, Sunday Night Football averaged a total audience delivery of 21.6 million viewers, a 1% year-over-year increase and the best viewership since 2015. The broadcast property is on pace to finish as the No. 1 show in prime time television for a 14th consecutive year. Eleven games averaged more than 20 million viewers, the most since 2015, and the property ranked No. 1 in average viewers, household rating and Adults 18-49 on NBC broadcast affiliates.
Kansas City ranked as the top-rated market for Sunday Night Football, accruing a 19.1 rating and 45 share for the season. Buffalo ranked second this season with an 18.6 rating and 39 share. Finishing in a tie for third place was Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, both which registered 14 ratings and 34 shares. Additionally, the streaming audience for the property on Peacock averaged 2.2 million viewers, up 38% from the previous year and setting a new record in the category.
“We are extremely proud of our outstanding technical, engineering, and production teams, which once again delivered a best-in-class presentation each week throughout an exhilarating season that was bookended by two of the three largest regular-season audiences in our nearly two decades showcasing Sunday Night Football,” Cordella said in a statement. “With SNF on our NBC stations pacing to rank #1 in primetime for an unprecedented 14th consecutive year, and Peacock driving our record-setting streaming audience above two million viewers per game, we have delivered for all of our partners. We look forward to the Playoffs this weekend and continuing to promote and produce this exciting season of NFL football.”
Comcast is currently in the second season of a 10-year media rights deal reportedly worth $2 billion per season that includes Sunday Night Football. The company will present a Wild Card round playoff game between the Washington Commanders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m. EST, and it will also broadcast the Super Bowl to conclude the 2025 and 2029 seasons. NBC Sports also airs the Olympic Games, Premier League and Big Ten Conference college football, and the entity is preparing to embark on an 11-year media rights deal with the NBA next season.
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