According to Nielsen estimates, the 3:05-6:45 p.m. ET game between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos on CBS averaged a monster 31.8 household rating/53 share in the overnights, peaking with a 36.6/57 from 6-6:30 p.m. ET. The Broncos’ 20-18 victory, in the 17th matchup all-time of legendary quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, notched the highest rating for the AFC Championship in 29 years (since an overtime contest between Denver and Cleveland on NBC did a 31.9 rating).
It’s also the highest early-window game rating for both the AFC or NFC Championship since 1987, up 9% from last year’s Green Bay-Seattle overtime contest on Fox (29.1/52). When Nielsen issues total-viewer estimates later today, the New England-Denver game is expected to have easily topped 50 million viewers.
As for Fox, the NFC Championship game between the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers, two teams with considerably less national following, averaged a 26.8 household rating/40 share in the overnights — up 19% from last year’s primetime conference championship game between Indianapolis and New England on CBS (24.2/39). It didn’t help, of course, that the Arizona-Carolina game turned into a lopsided affair, with the home team Panthers prevailing 49-15 to advance to the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history.
The lack of drama late in the game did not allow Fox to funnel as many viewers into “The X-Files” as it may have hoped. Nielsen will issue more accurate time zone-adjusted averages later today or tomorrow for the premiere, which started at 10:24 p.m. ET.
Sunday’s preliminary viewership in the 10:30 p.m. half-hour was 13.5 million and a 5.1 rating in adults 18-49, and the program’s averages should be a little higher than this in the nationals (perhaps in the 15 million-to-16 million range). “The X-Files,” which was among the most popular programs in Fox history, peaked in its fourth season (1996-97) when it averaged nearly 20 million viewers per episode. Its all-time high in viewership came on Jan. 26, 1997, when the episode titled “Leonard Betts” averaged 29.1 million viewers when it followed the network’s coverage of the Super Bowl game between New England and Green Bay. Its series finale in 2002 drew 13.2 million viewers.
Fox is hoping the limited-run return of “The X-Files” can provide a strong ratings lead-in for new drama “Lucifer,” which bows tonight at 9 following the sci-fi series.
