Update 2: Overnight ratings for the 2016 conference championships have been added to the table below.
The overnight ratings measure the percentage of households tuned-in in the largest 56 Nielsen markets out of 210 total markets. The biggest 56 markets represent about 70% of the U.S. population. For a list of all 210 markets ranked by number of TV households for the current TV season, click here.
The overnight ratings will be the first numbers available Monday morning and are a good indication of how the games performed versus previous years. By the time the national ratings for all 210 markets are available (usually late afternoon that same day) so are the viewership numbers. At that point, like many people I just shift my attention to the viewership numbers. I’ll try to dig past viewership numbers up and post them before this year’s viewership numbers are released. Update: I’ve posted the viewership numbers here.
NFL Conference Championships Overnight TV Ratings 2006-2016:
| Year | Early Game | Network | Rating | Late Game | Network | Rating |
| 2016 | Patriots-Broncos | CBS | 31.8 | Cardinals-Panthers | Fox | 26.8 |
| 2015 | Seahawks-Packers | Fox | 29.1 | Patriots-Colts | CBS | 24.2 |
| 2014 | Broncos-Patriots | CBS | 29.5 | Seahawks-49ers | Fox | 31.0 |
| 2013 | 49ers-Falcons | Fox | 26.1 | Ravens-Patriots | CBS | 27.9 |
| 2012 | Patriots-Ravens | CBS | 29.1 | Giants-49ers | Fox | 33.4 |
| 2011 | Packers-Bears | Fox | 30.0 | Steelers-Jets | CBS | 31.3 |
| 2010 | Colts-Jets | CBS | 28.4 | Saints-Vikings | Fox | 33.3 |
| 2009 | Cardinals-Eagles | Fox | 24.0 | Steelers-Ravens | CBS | 23.8 |
| 2008 | Chargers-Patriots | CBS | 27.4 | Giants-Packers | Fox | 31.7 |
| 2007 | Saints-Bears | Fox | 26.2 | Patriots-Colts | CBS | 28.1 |
| 2006 | Steelers-Broncos | CBS | 24.6 | Panthers-Seahawks | Fox | 22.1 |