Ratings for the 2022 AFC & NFC Championship Games

While we await the ratings for Super Bowl LVI, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the numbers from the 2 conference championship games from 2 weeks ago. To begin, 2022 marked the third straight year of the NFC game beating the AFC game (2020, 2021, 2022) in total viewership after the AFC game dominated the previous four years (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). Detailed breakdowns are provided for each game below:

Super Bowl Ratings (1967-present)

UPDATED FOR SUPER BOWL LVI: Below are the Nielsen ratings for every Super Bowl back to Super Bowl I in 1967. There are several columns of data in the chart below, including HH data (presented in ratings form & viewership form), average viewership, and total viewership for every game. Average viewership is the standard viewership metric while total viewership refers to the number of unique people who watched at least 6 minutes of the broadcast. Beginning with Super Bowl XX in 1986, local market ratings are included for both competing cities, and beginning with Super Bowl XXVI in 1992, 18-49 ratings are available. A second chart includes the streaming numbers beginning in 2012, as well as four sub-demos, and median age data back to 2010. I am missing some of the sub-demo data, so if anyone has that data, please let me know.

NFL Regular Season Local Market Ratings: 2021-22

Below are the full local market Nielsen ratings for all 30 NFL markets and all 18 weeks of the season. This data only accounts for households watching the NFL game featuring the team from that market.  There are two tables below: the first includes the percentage of TV homes, while the second table includes the total number of homes (in thousands). For example: 16.5% of homes in the Atlanta area (or 370,000 total households) watched the Falcons' week 1 game. New York and Los Angeles have two teams in their markets, so each market appears twice in the list with the viewership for the respective game. 

The data is in Live+1 as that is the standard that the Television Bureau of Advertising uses. This accounts for live viewing and viewing within 24 hours of the game broadcast. With sports programming specifically, there is virtually no difference between Live+Same day and timeshifted +1, +3, or +7 since the vast majority of people watch sports live. I'd obviously prefer a L+SD rating as I think using L+1 is goofy at best, but this is how the information is available. Note: I'm missing data from the New Orleans market for weeks 1 & 3. Also, I will update with week 18 when that data becomes available. I'm not going to include the data for week 18 because after looking at the report, I'm convinced that it is incorrect top-to-bottom. It shows essentially every single market being down from previous weeks which is at completely odds with the national ratings.

2021 World Series Ratings

Below are the Nielsen ratings for the 2021 World Series. The games successfully avoided continuing the downward trend of the last few years, instead seeing a nice rise from last year. The six-game series averaged a 6.5 HH rating, up from 5.2 for the 2020 series, a 2.66 adults 18-49 rating, up slightly from 2.50 last year, and 11.74 million viewers, up from 9.79 million.

Where the series struggled though was with younger males. The 2021 series tied 2020's ratings-low in men 18-49 (3.2 rating) and logged a new low in men 18-34 (2.0), down 3 tenths from last year. On a positive note, every game this year averaged above 10 million viewers, and game 6 finished with the biggest audience (13.97 million) since 2019's game 7 (23.22 million).

In local market ratings, Atlanta slightly edged out Houston in the six-game average with a 27.8 rating, versus 25.4. Atlanta delivered its strongest numbers in game 6 (33.5/54) and beat out Houston in every game except game 2 (27.4/50 to 23.3/42). Though Houston's ratings were down significantly from the Astros' last appearances in the games (42.7/63 in 2019's game 7 loss), Atlanta was actually on par with the Braves' last appearance (34.5/46 in 1999's game 4 loss). 

2020 World Series Ratings

The 2020 World Series was the lowest rated and lowest viewed Series on record. The six-game series averaged just a 5.2/12 rating/share among households, down from 8.1/16 for the Nationals/Astros series last year, and 9.785 million viewers, also down from last year (13.959 million). Additionally, Game 3 of the series was officially the lowest-rated (4.3/10) and lowest-viewed (8.156 million) World Series game of all time.

The final game did pull relatively okay numbers at 6.8/15 among households, a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating, and 12.627 million viewers. It was also the youngest-skewing game of the series with a median age of 54.8 which helped lower the series average to 56.2 - tying 2018 as the second oldest audience ever (only 2019's 56.9 was older). 

In the local markets, Los Angeles averaged a 21.2/40 rating share over the six games, including 27.5/48 for game 6 which was actually higher than any of the 2018 World Series games, and the highest for any Dodgers game since game 7 of the 2017 World Series (36.7/56). 

Tampa averaged a 15.2/29 over the six games including a 18.2/33 for game 6 which was the highest for a Rays game since the final game of the 2008 World Series (29.8/42) where the Rays lost to the Phillies.

World Series Ratings (1968-2021)

UPDATED 2022: Below are the Nielsen ratings for the last 53 World Series match-ups. Below are the Nielsen ratings for the last 11 years of World Series games. From 1991 to present, game-by-game data is provided for the following metrics: local markets, household (HH) ratings, men 18-49, men 18-34, median age, and total viewers. Adults 18-49 data is available from 1998 onwards. Local market ratings for both of the competing teams are provided for most games though there are a few missing. The color-coding works as follows: all of the local market ratings are compared against each other, all of the household (HH) ratings are compared against each other, and the same for A18-49, M18-49, M18-34, Median age, and total viewers. Overall, the "greener" the chart, the better the ratings. From 1968 through 1990 the only data available is the HH rating, total number of households, and total viewers. I will continue to try and dig up data for games before 1968, but they are not easy to find.

Note: Canadian viewership is provided for all of the 1992 and 1993 games as the Toronto Blue Jays were a competing team and Nielsen did not measure local ratings in Canada. Additionally, note that the Atlanta local market ratings in 1992 are from Arbitron, not Nielsen as there was no Nielsen local data made available that year.  

2018 Winter Olympics Local Market Ratings

The Olympics were a West Coast and mid-west affair! West Coast markets dominated the Olympic ratings, led almost daily by Salt Lake City, Utah, which brought in a 29.6 local rating/55 share for the opening ceremonies, and averaged a 21.1/39 over the course of all 17 days. Other west coast cities with high weekly averages include Denver, Colorado (20.2/36), San Diego, California (17.0/32), and Seattle, Washington (16.7/31). In the mid-west, Minneapolis, Minnesota (17.5/32 average) Milwaukee, Wisconsin (17.1/28), and Kansas City, Missouri (16.8/27)  brought in big numbers during Olympic week. On the East Coast, the only markets to consistently make the top 10 each day were West Palm Beach, Florida (15.5/24 on average), Buffalo, New York (15.1/24), and Washington, DC (14.5/26). 

Super Bowl LII Local Market Ratings

Below are the local market ratings for the 27 markets in which local data was made available for 'Super Bowl LII.' The top market for game surprisingly belonged to Buffalo, NY (56.4 rating), which was just two-tenths higher than competing city Philadelphia, PA (56.2), and five-tenths higher than other competing city Boston, MA (55.9). Host city Minneapolis, MN tied Pittsburgh, PA (54.9) for fourth place. Both Atlanta, GA and Birmingham, AL experienced high drops from last year to this year, both falling about 10 percentage points from last year's Super Bowl. Outside of the host city and competing cities, Miami, FL and New Orleans, LA were the only markets to experience growth from last year, the former rising slightly from 37.8 to 38.7, and the latter up from 48.4 to 53.0. Salt Lake City, UT had the lowest ratings of all major markets (37.7, 56th ranked), while newly NFL-less St. Louis, MO ranked fourth from last (41.6, 53rd).

Top 15 Shows in Top 15 Markets: 12/18 - 12/24/2017

Market data for the week ending December 17, 2017 was not available.

NFL Football topped the ratings for the week leading up to Christmas in all top 25 local markets save for San Francisco, where Warriors Basketball (408,000, 409,000, 498,000) led, Orlando, where 'The Voice Monday' (148,000) led, Sacramento, where 'The Voice Tuesday' (159,000) led, and St. Louis, where 'Young Sheldon' (167,000) led. Elsewhere, FOX's 4:30pm (ET) NFL game scored huge numbers in Dallas (16.2 rating, 1.151 million viewers), Philadelphia (10.5 rating, 770,000 viewers), Charlotte (10.6 rating, 305,000), and Houston (9.9 rating, 674,000), while NBC's 'Saturday Night Football' saw its biggest numbers in Minneapolis (28.3 rating, 1.197 million viewers), Philadelphia (8.1 rating, 592,000), Denver (6.9 rating, 267,000), and Baltimore (6.4 rating, 196,000 viewers).

Performance in "home" markets: 'Kevin Can Wait' had 367,000 viewers in New York City, and 'Young Sheldon' had 313,000 in Dallas, as well as 209,000 from Houston. 

Top 15 Shows in Top 15 Markets: 12/4 - 12/10/2017

The mid-season finale of AMC's 'The Walking Dead' scored 7.9 million viewers nationally, easily making it the top scripted cable series of the week. The show scored its biggest ratings in Atlanta with a 4.7 (330,000), and its highest viewership in New York City (626,000). Seattle was the only West Coast market where it made the weekly top 30, notching a 2.2/7 rating/share and 102,000 viewers. In Dallas, the show did a 2.8/7 (200,000), in Boston it did 2.4/6 (143,000), and in Detroit it did 2.8/7 (123,000). Outside the top 15 markets, 'Walking Dead' also performed well in Denver (3.6/9, 139,000), Cleveland (3.3/8, 112,000), St. Louis (3.5/8, 99,000), and Charlotte (3.2/7, 93,000). It didn't reach the top 30 in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Miami, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, or Portland. It did 2.7/7 (102,000) in Orlando, and 2.7/6 (73,000) in Baltimore. 

Performance in "home" markets: In New York City, 'Blue Bloods' had 575,000 viewers, 'Will & Grace' had 485,000, and 'Law & Order: SVU' did 479,000. In Los Angeles, 'The Big Bang Theory' notched 408,000, 'NCIS: LA' had 262,000, and 'Modern Family' had 232,000. 'Chicago PD' did 297,000 and 'Chicago Med' did 282,000 in Chicago, while 'The Goldbergs' 245,000 in Philadelphia, and 'Young Sheldon' did 344,000 in Dallas (235,000 in Houston). In San Francisco, 'The Good Doctor' had 117,000, and in Atlanta, 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' had 172,000 and 'Star' had 202,000.   

Top 15 Shows in Top 15 Markets: 11/27 - 12/3/2017

CBS's 'Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special' scored solid ratings across the top 25 markets. It hit its highest ratings in Pittsburgh (10.5/22 rating/share, 269,000 viewers), St. Louis (9.5/22, 271,000), and Boston (8.4/21, 501,000), and its lowest in Atlanta (2.6/7, 167,000). The Big Ten Championship between Wisconsin and Ohio State notched a 16.7/42 (569,000) in Cleveland, and a 6.1/16 (259,000) in Minneapolis. The game also scored big numbers in Atlanta (6.0/18, 387,000) and Detroit (7.2/20, 318,000). 

NBC's 'Sunday Night Football' between the Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks notched a 22.7/50 (1.656 million viewers) in Philadelphia, and a 32.4/70 (1.481 million) in Seattle. 'Thursday Night Football' between the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys scored a 12.8/35 (912,000) in Dallas, and a 9.9/29 (636,000) in DC. Finally, 'Monday Night Football' between the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens notched a 4.1/12 (281,000) on ESPN in Houston and a 4.9/13 (135,000) on ESPN in Baltimore. The game also aired on the local ABC affiliate in Houston (KTRK) and the local NBC affiliate in Baltimore (WBAL) where it had an additional 5.5/16 (378,000) in Houston and 9.2/24 (255,000) in Baltimore. 

Top 15 Shows in Top 15 Markets: 11/20 - 11/26/2017

Hallmark Channel movies weren't particularly popular in all markets in the country; however, they did well in Washington D.C., Tampa Bay, Orlando, Cleveland, and Baltimore. Sunday's original movie had 123,000 viewers in the Nation's capital (1.9/5), while Saturday's episode had 122,000 (1.9/5). Friday's Hallmark movie made the list in both Tampa Bay and Orlando notching 99,000 (2.2/6) and 85,000 (2.2/7) respectively. Saturday's episode had 115,000 in Tampa while Sunday's had 106,000 in Orlando. Sunday's Hallmark movie also did 100,000 viewers in Cleveland and 63,000 in Baltimore.

Basic cable shows don't often make the top 30 listings but with fewer new episodes on the broadcast networks due to the holiday week, more cable listings made it to the lists this week. In Boston, four airings of Celtics basketball on the local NBC Sports Network affiliate ranged in viewers from 152,000 on Saturday to 221,000 on Wednesday. Three airings of the 'Rachel Maddow Show' on MSNBC made the list in Washington D.C, ranging from 131,000 to 143,000 in total viewers. In Seattle, a MLS Playoffs Game on Fox Sports 1 on Tuesday had 133,000 local viewers, and in Atlanta, a new episode of Sunday's 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' scored 199,000 viewers in the city. A Monday night NHL game on NBC Sports Network had 94,000 viewers in St. Louis and an episode of VH1's 'Love & Hip Hop' had 62,000 viewers in Baltimore.

Top 15 Shows in the Top 15 Markets: 11/13 - 11/19/2017

ABC's coverage of the American Music awards did very well in the northern cities of the United States, but not nearly as well in the south. The awards show was the top airing of the week in New York with a 5.3/14 persons 2+ rating/share and 994,000 viewers. It made the top 15 lists in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Detroit, Seattle, and Minneapolis. Here is how it did in the other cities: Philadelphia (3.0/6, 223,000), Washington DC (2.5/7, 160,000), Houston (2.5/7, 173,000), Tampa (2.9/7, 128,000), and Phoenix (3.0/8, 152,000). The awards didn't make the top 30 in Dallas, but they did less than a 2.3/6 and 166,000. Outside the top 15 markets, the awards show did quite well in Miami (4.0/11, 177,000), Cleveland (3.8/9, 131,000), and Pittsburgh (5.0/11, 128,000).

Performance in "home" markets: In New York City, 'Blue Bloods' did 502,000 viewers (2.7/8), and 'Empire' had 518,000 (2.8/8). In Los Angeles, 'This is Us' had 281,000 viewers (166,000 in Pittsburgh), 'The Big Bang Theory' had 416,000, and 'Modern Family' had 326,000. 'Chicago PD' had 311,000 viewers in Chicago (3.6/11), 'The Goldbergs' had 262,000 in Philadelphia (3.6/9), 'Star' had 181,000 in Atlanta (2.8/8), and 'Grey's Anatomy' had 141,000 in Seattle (3.1/8). In Dallas, 'Young Sheldon' had 313,000 and in Houston it had 218,000.

Top 20 Shows in the Top 10 Markets: 11/6 - 11/12/2017

Note: I only received market data for the top 10 markets for the week ending November 12.

NFL Sunday Afternoon Football topped the market charts in all major markets, not including San Francisco and Boston. FOX coverage at 4 p.m. notched a 6.3/20 in New York City (1.178 million viewers), a 5.3/17 in Los Angeles (838,000), and a 5.6/18 in Chicago (480,000). The Rams' win over the Houston Texans was seen by 518,000 Houstonians, and the Falcons' win over the Cowboys was seen by 1.082 million people in Dallas and 909,000 in Atlanta. 

The 'CMA Awards' made the lists for all top 10 cities. It performed best in Dallas where it scored a 5.2/15 persons 2+ rating/share, and ranked third on the week.

Performance in "home" markets: in New York City, 'Blue Bloods' had 632,000 viewers and 'Law & Order: SVU' had 436,000 (2.3/6). In Los Angeles, 'The Big Bang Theory' found 435,000, 'NCIS: LA' had 360,000, and 'This Is Us' did 350,000. 'Chicago PD' had 233,000 viewers in its namesake city, while 'Young Sheldon' did 244,000 in Dallas and 213,000 in Houston. In Washington D.C., 'Scandal' had 133,000 and in Atlanta, 'Star' had 183,000.  

Top 15 Shows in Top 15 Markets: 10/30 - 11/5/2017

The World Series Games 6 and 7 dominated every major market in the United States. In Los Angeles, game 6 notched a 18.5/56 persons 2+ rating/share with 2.95 million viewers, and in Houston, the game had a 25.2/58 rating/share with 1.72 million viewers. In nearby markets, Game 6 had a 9.2/35 (596,000) in San Francisco and a 9.2/27 (656,000) in Dallas. In game 7, Los Angeles hit a huge 22.8/56 rating with 3.63 million viewers and Houston was at 28.0/63 with 1.91 million viewers. In San Francisco, game 7 had a 12.1/41 (814,000) and in Dallas, it had a 12.1/35 (862,000). 

Performance in"home" markets: in Los Angeles, 'The Big Bang Theory' had 507,000 viewers, and 'This Is Us' had 284,000 (166,000 in Pittsburgh). In Seattle, 'Grey's Anatomy' had 123,000 viewers, 'Young Sheldon' had 348,000 in Dallas (226,000 in Houston), and 'The Goldbergs' had 230,000 in Philadelphia. In Chicago, 'Chicago Fire' had 268,000 viewers, and in New York, 'Blue Bloods' had 581,000, 'Will & Grace' had 567,000. 

Top 15 Shows in Top 15 Markets: 10/23 - 10/29/2017

Game 1 of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros aired on October 24th, and notched 1.15 million viewers in Houston. Game 2 had 2.47 million viewers in Los Angeles and 1.13 million in Houston. All five games of the series that aired this week notched huge ratings in both cities, with game 5 hitting a 53% share in Los Angeles and 50% share in Houston. The top game in LA was game 5 with 3.28 million viewers, and the top game in Houston was game 3 with 1.41 million viewers (55% share). 

Performance in "home" markets: ABC's 'Grey's Anatomy' had a 2.9/8 persons 2+ rating/share and 132,000 viewers in Seattle. In Chicago, 'Chicago PD' had 304,000 viewers (barely missing the top 15), and 'Chicago Fire' had 293,000 viewers. In Los Angeles, 'This Is Us' had 483,000 viewers (176,000 in Pittsburgh), and 'Big Bang Theory' had 434,000. In New York, 'Will & Grace' had 751,000, and 'Blue Bloods' had 528,000. In Philadelphia, 'The Goldbergs' had 201,000, in San Francisco, 'The Good Doctor' had 155,000, and in Washington D.C. 'Scandal' had 152,000. 

Top 15 Shows in Top 15 Markets: 10/16 - 10/22/2017

The MLB American League Championship between the New York Yankees and Houston Astros dominated local TV ratings in both networks for the week ending Oct. 22, with all 5 games in the top 6 for both markets. Game 3 on Oct 16. with 1.394 million viewers in New York City and 471,000 in Houston. Game 7 notched 2.107 million New York viewers and 903,000 in Houston. 13.2% of all people in Houston were watching the game, and 11.2% of New Yorkers were. Only the final 3 games of the NLDS between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers aired this week, with the Dodgers wrapping things up in five games. The deciding game on Oct. 19, registered 1.122 million Angelenos (7%), which was actually fewer than Game 3 (1.226 million) and Game 4 (1.231 million). In Chicago, the deciding game had 668,000 viewers (7.7%), which, in a similar fashion, was lower than Game 3 (891,000) and Game 4 (968,000). 

Performance in "home" markets: 'The Good Doctor' made the top 30 this week in San Francisco (not in the list below), with 138,000 viewers in the Bay area. In Los Angeles, 'The Big Bang Theory' had 505,000 viewers, 'This Is Us' had 394,000 (178,000 in Pittsburgh), 'Modern Family' had 325,000, and 'NCIS: LA' had 298,000. In New York City, 'Will & Grace' had 561,000, 'Blue Bloods' had 531,000, 'Empire' had 530,000, and 'Law & Order: SVU' 420,000. In Chicago, 'Chicago Fire' had 300,000 and 'Chicago PD' had 233,000; in Atlanta, 'Star' had 212,000. Finally, in Washington D.C., 'Scandal' had 135,000 viewers. 

Top 15 Shows in Top 15 Markets: 10/9 - 10/15/2017

MLB Playoff Baseball won in many markets across the United States. Game 4 between the Yankees and the Indians had 1.32 million viewers in New York and 482,000 in Cleveland; Game 5 had 1.54 million in New York and 620,000 in Cleveland. Game 1 against the Astros had 1.39 million viewers in New York and 533,000 in Houston; Game 2 had 404,000 in New York (TBS), but didn't make the Top 30 in Houston. The Dodgers' series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks notched 793,000 viewers in Los Angeles and 286,000 in Phoenix. The first 2 games of the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs had 986,000 & 1.14 million viewers respectively in LA, and 1.06M & 1.13M in Chicago. Games 4 and 5 of the Cubs' series versus the Nationals had 695,000 & 1.18M viewers in Chicago and 317,000 & 479,000 in Washington D.C. respectively. 

Performance in "Home" Markets: In Seattle, 'Grey's Anatomy' had 137,000 viewers, in Chicago, 'Chicago PD' had 240,000, in Philadelphia, 'The Goldbergs' had 246,000 viewers, and in Atlanta, 'Star' had 202,000. In Washington D.C., 'NCIS' had 229,000 viewers,  and 'Scandal' had 120,000. In New York City, 'Will & Grace' had 578,000, and 'Empire' had 615,000. In Los Angeles, 'The Big Bang Theory' had 496,000, 'NCIS: LA' had 400,000, 'This Is Us' had 372,000 (162,000 in Pittsburgh), and 'Modern Family' had 253,000, 'The Good Doctor' did not make the top 30 in the San Francisco/San Jose area.