STAMFORD, Conn.—Sunday’s Los Angeles Rams-Chicago Bears thriller delivered NBC Sports’ most-watched NFL Divisional Playoff audience on record, with an average of 45.4 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital platforms and NFL Digital platforms, based on official Nielsen Big Data + Panel and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
Viewing peaked at 52.6 million in the game’s final minutes between 9:45 and 10 pm ET as the Rams defeated the Bears 20-17 in overtime.
Rams-Bears (45.4 million viewers) is NBC Sports’ most watched NFL Divisional Playoff on record, since Nielsen’s launched the People Meter in 1988 – covering a total of 34 games. NBC’s previous most-watched Divisional Playoff (41.1 million viewers) came in Jan. 1994 as Joe Montana threw three second-half TD passes to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 28-20 victory over fellow Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon and the Houston Oilers.
Led by Peacock, NBC Sports Digital delivered its largest NFL simulstream audience ever (excluding Super Bowls) with an Average Minute Audience of 5.3 million viewers across Peacock, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, and NFL Digital properties.
Chicago led all markets with a massive 34.7/66 local rating while the game averaged 16.3/55 in Los Angeles – up 15% from the 14.2/57 for the Rams-Eagles NFC Divisional Playoff last season on NBC.
