L.A. Rams’ & Patriots’ Wins See NFL Ratings Jump Double Digits Over 2018

Sunday was a tense but ultimately good day for the Super Bowl-bound Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots, and a very good day for the NFL, Fox and CBS.

Both the NFC and AFC championship games played yesterday went into overtime, and both gridiron battles saw double-digit ratings gains over last year.

The local boys’ Rams’ 26-23 victory over the New Orleans Saints in the early game scored a 27.1/49 in metered market results for the Rupert Murdoch-owned network. Marking their third consecutive Super Bowl berth, the five-ring-holding Tom Brady and the Patriots had to go long to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 37-31 on the road, but their ratings result was a very strong 31.2/48 in the early metrics.

At the tail end of a season that saw the NFL slip away from controversy, player protests over social injustice, and decidedly declining ratings, the Rams’ victory was up 10% over last year’s big NFC game, when current Super Bowl champs the Philadelphia Eagles demolished the Minnesota Vikings.

The news gets better for the Murdochs and the league in the long run too.

If those early numbers are indicative, yesterday’s Rams’ win could turn out to be Fox’s most watched telecast in sports, drama, awards shows, reality shows and everything else since Super Bowl LI. It should be noted that that February 5, 2017 game saw the Patriots maul the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 after springing into action with a 25-point comeback, the largest in NFL history.

As for history, last night’s AFC Championship Game is currently the highest-rated telecast on TV since last year’s Super Bowl LII, where the Patriots lost to the Eagles 41-33 and snagged a 47.4/74 in meter market numbers.

For CBS, the AFC ratings look good on a variety of levels. First of all, last night’s Patriots OT win is up 14% over last year’s AFC Championship in the early metrics. Secondly, this year’s AFC title game rose 26% over the Eagles-Minnesota Vikings NFC Championship Game of 2018, which was played in the later time slot.

Thirdly and perhaps lastly for us, last night’s AFC Championship Game is the highest-rated late-window conference championship game since the New York Giants played the San Francisco 49ers on January 22, 2012. That game achieved a 33.4/48 metered market result.

All of which means get ready for a hell of a Super Bowl LIII on February 3 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

In other Sunday ratings news:

CBS’s post-game Magnum P.I. (3.8, 12.06M) clocked in four times better than current season average, easily copping series high.

And CW’s back-from-hiatus Supergirl (0.3, 1.04M) plunged relative to its fall finale’s 0.8 demo rating, compliments of CW’s well-orchestrated Superhero crossover campaign. After which, Charmed returned (0.3, 820K) on par with its fall finale.

CBS (13.1, 43.04M) owned primetime Sunday, Fox (0.8, 2.45M), ABC (0.6, 3.36M), NBC (0.5, 2.75M), and CW (0.3, 930K) followed, laps behind.