ESPN/ABC report that the early Kansas City Chiefs vs. Houston Texans game drew a 16.2 overnight rating across ESPN and ABC, up 23% versus last year’s Cardinals-Panthers game (which aired on ESPN but was not simulcast nationally on ABC). The game tied as the fourth highest-rated Saturday afternoon Wild Card game since 2007. The game delivered a 52.1 local market rating in Kansas City and a 32.6 rating in the Houston market. Update: ESPN says the game averaged 25.171 million viewers across ESPN & ABC (doesn’t include ESPN Deportes).
The primetime Pittsburgh Steelers vs Cincinnati Bengals game drew a 19.2/32 overnight rating/share, up 11% versus the equivalent game last year. In fast affiliate numbers that aren’t time-zone adjusted and don’t include any of the viewing after 11p.m. ET, the game averaged 27.5 million viewers. Update: CBS says the game averaged 31.2 million viewers and was the most-watched Saturday Wild Card game on any network in four years.
Overnight household rating = the live+same day DVR overnight metered-market household rating from the top 56 Nielsen television markets. The 56 markets (out of 210 total) account for about 70% of the US TV-viewing population. The overnight household rating is the percentage of the households that were tuned-in in those markets.