[Courtesy Photo]
The San Francisco 49ers’ 34-31 victory over the Detroit Lions Sunday averaged 56.324 million viewers, the most for an NFC championship game since the New York Giants’ 20-17 overtime victory over the 49ers on Jan. 22, 2012 averaged 57.64 million.
Each NFC championship game since 1995 has aired on Fox.
Fox also had the week’s most-watched non-sports program, the season premiere of cooking competition “Next Level Chef,” which averaged 7.242 million viewers, fourth for the week behind the three programs that preceded it, the NFC championship game and six- and 14-minute postgame shows, which averaged 42.536 million and 26.484 million.
Fox averaged 12.44 million viewers for its 16 hours, eight minutes of prime-time programming between Jan. 22 and Sunday. NBC was second, averaging 2.99 million, followed by CBS, which averaged 2.73 million, and ABC, which averaged 2.52 million, all for 22 hours of programming.
Fox’s most-watched program outside of its Sunday programming was the game show “The Floor,” 37th among the week’s prime-time broadcast and cable programs, averaging 2.541 million viewers.
NBC’s “Chicago” franchise accounted for three of the other four programs to average more than 5 million viewers. “Chicago Med,” was fifth for the week, averaging 6.66 million viewers. “Chicago Fire,” which followed, was sixth, averaging 6.561 million.
“Chicago P.D.” which followed “Chicago Fire,” averaged 5.475 million viewers, eighth for the week.
The other program to top 5 million viewers was the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes,” which was seventh, averaging 6.546 million viewers. It began 48 minutes after the conclusion of CBS’ afternoon coverage of the AFC championship game which averaged 55.473 million viewers, the most for an AFC title game.
The previous record was 54.85 million for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 24- 19 victory over the New York Jets on Jan. 23, 2011. CBS has carried the AFC championship game each year since 1999.
The week’s 20 most-watched broadcast and cable prime-time programs consisted of the NFC championship game, its 6- and 14-minute postgame shows and the season premiere of cooking competition “Next Level Chef” which followed on Fox; six NBC scripted programs and its alternative program “America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League”; the ABC alternative programs “Celebrity Jeopardy!” and “Shark Tank” its coverage of Saturday’s Los Angeles Lakers-Golden State Warriors game and news magazine “20/20”; CBS’ “60 Minutes,” “NCIS: Sydney” and “The Price is Right at Night”; and the Tuesday editions of the Fox News Channel political talk shows “Jesse Watters Primetime” and “Hannity.”
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable network, averaging 2.12 million viewers. It had each of the 12 most-watched prime-time cable programs and 14 of the top 15, topped by the Jan. 23 edition of “Jesse Watters Primetime,” which included coverage of the results of the New Hampshire primaries and averaged 3.912 million viewers, 16th among the week’s prime-time broadcast and cable programs.
MSNBC was second among cable networks, averaging 1.186 million viewers, and HGTV third, averaging 874,000.
The cable prime-time top 20 consisted of 14 Fox News Channel political talk shows — five broadcasts each of “Jesse Watters Primetime” and “Hannity” and four of “Gutfeld!” and its 10 p.m. coverage of the New Hampshire primaries results; History’s long-running chronicle of a search for treasure on a Canadian island, “The Curse of Oak Island”; two hourlong reports on the New Hampshire primaries on MSNBC; the Hallmark Channel movie, “Romance with a Twist”; and the 8 p.m. segment of the USA Network professional wrestling program “Monday Night Raw.”
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were Fox’s coverage of the NFC championship game, its 6- and 14-minute postgame shows and the season premiere of cooking competition “Next Level Chef”; NBC’s “Chicago Med” and “Chicago Fire”; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; NBC’s “Chicago P.D.”; and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”; and CBS’ “NCIS: Sydney.”
